[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 16]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 23301]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                        CLEAN DIAMOND TRADE ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                       HON. CONSTANCE A. MORELLA

                              of maryland

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, November 27, 2001

  Mrs. MORELLA. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 2722, the 
Clean Diamond Trade Act, and I thank Congressmen Houghton, Rangel and 
Hall for their dedication to finding a consensus on this issue. Thanks 
to their work, the diamond industry, human rights organizations and 
American consumers can rest assured that their government is dedicated 
to eliminating the funding of civil war, and of terrorist organizations 
from diamond profits.
  H.R. 2722, prohibits the importation of rough diamonds, or polished 
diamonds, into the United States unless the exporting country has a 
system of controls, consistent with United Nations General Assembly 
Resolution 55/56 adopted on December 1, 2000, or that is consistent 
with an equivalent international agreement. This bill also prohibits 
the Overseas Private Investment Corporation and the Export-Import Bank 
of the United States from engaging in projects involving the mining, 
polishing or sale of diamonds in a country that fails to meet these 
same requirements.
  I believe this bill will finally address the massive human suffering 
that has occurred as a result of the trade of conflict diamonds in 
Africa. This tragedy, which has driven over 6 million people from their 
homes and resulted in over 2 million deaths, has gone unaddressed for 
too long. I encourage all my colleagues to support H.R. 2722, so the 
association between diamonds and Americans can once again be love, not 
violence.

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