and security of people in affected countries and the systematic and gross human rights violations that have been perpetrated in such conflicts.”178 The KPCS’s core document can be modified by consensus of the participants following a proposal by any participant.179 Civil society organizations participating in the KPCS have already initiated dialogue among participants with respect to conflict diamonds, calling on the KPCS to ensure its minimum standards are consistent with international human rights law. On December 12, 2008, Global Witness, a participating nongovernmental organization, issued a statement calling on the KPCS to suspend Zimbabwe and to issue “a clear and unequivocal statement about the need for all Participants to observe basic human rights in the enforcement of Kimberley Process minimum standards.”180 In March 2009 another KPCS civil society participant, Partnership Africa Canada, also urged the KPCS to suspend Zimbabwe highlighting human rights concerns and the need to integrate human rights in KPCS mandate.181 The KPCS risks becoming irrelevant and ineffective if it sticks to a narrow interpretation of its core mandate and limits its human rights focus. In light of the research in this report and by others, the KPCS clearly needs to revisit its mandate and expand it to specifically cover broader human rights concerns and unambiguously include them as part of the certification process. Diamonds originating from situations like Marange, where serious human rights abuses have taken place, should be shunned like “conflict diamonds” acquired by rebel groups. The term itself should be amended to reflect a broader array of abuses connected to mining. The KPCS obliges participants to exercise effective internal control over their diamond industry to prevent trade in conflict diamonds in the global market. Each participant is required to ensure that all rough diamonds that it exports from its domestic industry are accompanied by a valid, forgery-resistant Kimberley Process certificate attesting to their origin. The KPCS has an investigative arm, the Working Group on Monitoring (KPWGM), which monitors compliance with Kimberley Process requirements in all participant countries.182 178 Kimberley Process core document. 179 Ibid. 180 “Conflict diamonds scheme must suspend Zimbabwe,” Global Witness, December 12, 2008, http://www.globalwitness.org/media_library_detail.php/695/en/conflict_diamond_scheme_must_suspend_zimbabwe (accessed April 19, 2009). 181 “Diamonds and the Wrong side of History,” Partnership Africa Canada, March 2009, p. 15. 182 Ibid. Diamonds in the Rough 54