NGOs: Expel Venezuela Immediately from Kimberley Process

A consortium of NGOs, civil society members of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme, has released a statement calling for the immediate expulsion of Venezuela from the KPCS. Venezuela has been in a state of serious non-compliance for four years, and it is making a mockery of an important conflict prevention mechanism,” commented Ian Smillie of Partnership Africa Canada (PAC), one of the NGOs. The statement notes that Venezuela was a charter member of the Kimberley Process (KP) from its 2003 inception, but, after the first quarter of 2005, it submitted no statistical information and no annual reports. And, although throughout 2005 and 2006, KP committees sent emails, letters and diplomatic demarches to the country, urging it to comply, it was to no avail.