By George M.O. Williams
The Minister of Mines and Mineral Resources and the European Union (EU) have on Tuesday, September 13, 2022, commenced a two-day meeting to monitor progress and challenges in the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS), Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining (ASM) in the region under the Regional Resource Governance in West Africa programme.
The Kimberley Process (KP) is an international, multi-stakeholder initiative created to increase transparency and oversight in the diamond industry in order to eliminate trade in conflict diamonds, or rough diamonds sold by rebel groups or their allies to fund conflict against legitimate governments.
The meeting brought representatives from four Mano River Union countries (Sierra Leone, Guinea, Liberia and Cote d’Ivoire), and it is aimed at taking stock of the achievements of all four MRU member states over the last three years.
The meeting was also meant to address matters that had arisen after the regional meeting of the corporation in February 2020 to date.
This segment of the project was jointly co-funded by the European Union (EU) and the German Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). It will be implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft fur International Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) as part of the Regional Resource Governance Programme in West Africa.
The overall objective of the project is focused on peace building and stabilization in mineral rich fragile areas with the specific object on the implementation of the Kimberley Process (KP) in the four MRU countries, at regional and national level, and to enhance the development and livelihood aspect of artisanal mining.
The Team Leader Social and Economic Sector at the European Union, Mario Caivano said that the EU has been at the forefront of the Kimberley Process since it commenced. He added that the EU is proud of the progress that has been made in in it since the Process Certification Scheme was launched in 2003.
He added that the event was an opportunity to discuss the outcomes of the Project, good practices, lesson learned, as well as to come up with recommendations for future interventions related to artisanal and small -scale mining.
According to Caivano, it is a fact that many miners are informally working in the artisanal diamond-mining subsector. He added that in order to enable communities situated in diamond areas it is necessary to establish better cooperation among relevant institutions and strengthen monitoring in diamond sector.
He alluded that the EU will continue supporting issues related to artisanal sector, adding that future interventions at the regional level are still to be identified, discussed and approved.
The Secretary General of the Mano River Union, Ambassador Medina Wesseh, said that the artisanal mining sector involved large number of individual operators, community members and other actors, adding that it is estimated that 1.2 million of artisanal miners are operating in the sector with more than 4.5 million of direct dependents.
She added that if the sector is managed well, it could be a serious and useful means for community development and source of public revenue that will provide employment.
Wesseh stated that the artisanal mining sector is dynamic, versatile and hazardous creating different challenges mainly in terms of production, trade, monitoring and control, illicit economy, environmental disaster, social disruption and human rights violations.
The Deputy Secretary of the Ministry of Mines and Mineral Resources, Emmanuel M. Sandi said that the next phase of the project also aimed at promoting regional policy and capacity development for different governmental stakeholders both in terms of the improvement of regulation and reduction of smuggling.
He added that the project had Kimberley Process and Artisanal Mining Sector structure that led to the implementation of national activities in their respective national action plan that was developed in 2020.
“However, this project has capacitated mining administration, law enforcement agencies, local industries (artisanal miners) and civil society,” Sandi said.
The Regional Country Director of GIZ in Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia, Christian Widmann said that more than 50 percent of precious minerals officers in the region are now knowledgeable on the mechanism and requirement of Kimberley Process, adding that MRU member states could generate legal revenue from export of diamonds while they are aware of international standards and regulations.