Venezuela, a Kimberley Process member declared to withdraw from the KP for two years, during the recent inter-sessional meeting of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS) in New Delhi. The country has been under the scrutiny of NGOs and the KP members as it was cited to have gone astray in abiding by KP’s minimal standards.

A group of seven NGOs had called for Venezuela’s immediate expulsion from the KPCS due to “serious non-compliance” with the scheme over the last four years. Accordingly, in the meeting KP chairman Rahul Khullar declared that Venezuela will not export roughs for two years and a KP team would asses the situation in the country and present a report before the next plenary meeting in November.

The inter-sessional meeting was chaired by India, with 200 delegates representing 35 countries attending between June 17 to 19. The agenda was to strengthen the scheme by reviewing its progress and suggesting room for improvement in statistical data gathering, traceability of diamonds within participating countries. Also, clarifying the concern of Indian Commerce Secretary G.K. Pillai on fake KP certificates, a KP committee member said that there was minimal threat from such as only three to four instances were recorded so far and they are easily traceable.