HIGHLIGHTS OF PRESS BRIEFING BY BRENDEN VARMA,?SPOKESPERSON FOR GENERAL ASSEMBLY PRESIDENT MIROSLAV LAJ??K

United Nations Headquarters, New York

7 March 2018

 

ASSEMBLY REAFFIRMS SUPPORT FOR EFFORTS TO TACKLE CONFLICT DIAMONDS

  • The General Assembly met today to consider the role of diamonds in fuelling conflict.
  • Australia was the 2017 Chair of the Kimberley Process, which works to remove conflict diamonds from the global supply chain.?In that regard, Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop presented this year’s .
  • According to the resolution, the General Assembly reaffirmed its strong and continuing support for the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme and the Kimberley Process as a whole.
  • It also recognized that the trade in conflict diamonds continues to be a matter of serious international concern, which can be directly linked to the fuelling of armed conflict, the activities of rebel movements aimed at undermining or overthrowing legitimate Governments, and the illicit traffic in and proliferation of armaments, especially small arms and light weapons.
  • The Assembly recognized the important contributions that the international efforts to address the problem of conflict diamonds, including the Kimberley Process, have made to the settlement of conflicts and the consolidation of peace in Angola, C?te d’Ivoire, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
  • Today’s resolution was adopted without a vote.