The project, Independent Monitoring of the Kimberley Process known by its French acronym as SIPROKIM, raises the issue of the weakness of the internal controls of the Kimberley Process in Cameroon. The Kimberley Process is a tripartite international forum of governments, industries, and civil society organizations. Established in 2003 through the United Nations Resolution 55/56, the objective of the Kimberley Process is to prevent conflict diamonds from entering the international market. Conflict diamonds” are defined by the UN General Assembly as “rough diamonds used by rebel movements to finance their military activities, to undermine or overthrow legitimate governments”. The principles and requirements of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS) impose a minimum compliance requirement that participating countries must meet. After several years, new challenges have arisen, and new phenomena are being faced that have nothing to do with the current definition of conflict diamonds. Although reforms put in place more than three years ago have not been successful, it will be worthwhile to keep looking at them, as there is a gap between the KP texts and the present reality. In Cameroon, the Permanent National Secretariat of the Kimberley Process (SNPPK) was created by Decree No. 2011/3666/PM of 2 November 2011. Their missions are to monitor:
- The traceability of the national production of rough diamonds intended for export and trade in diamonds.
- Control the conformity of rough diamonds intended for export and import.
- Verify the authenticity of the information contained in the accompanying documents of the imported lots or in transit.
- Issue certificates for rough diamonds intended for export.
With this in mind, the project aims to establish independent monitoring by local civil society organizations (CSOs) in order to improve diamond governance in Cameroon. SIPROKIM is implemented by RELUFA with funding from The Active Citizenship Support Program, PROCIVIS.
The general objective of this project is to get public decision-makers to take decisions to reduce the smuggling of rough diamonds and capital flight in Cameroon. Specifically, the project aims to ensure that:
- A sustainable Kimberley Process (KP) monitoring dynamic is structured in the East and Adamaoua regions of Cameroon.
- More information on rough diamond governance is publicly available.
- Debates on the implementation of the Kimberley Process at national and international level are initiated and enriched.
- Take stock of diamond governance in the East and Adamaoua regions and establish a baseline for the monitoring and evaluation of the independent KP monitoring project.
The project to last for 21 months, is implemented in the East and Adamaoua regions of Cameroon and at the end of the project, the following results are expected to be attained:
- The technical and institutional capacity of local CSOs to monitor the KP is increased.
- An independent KP monitoring network is established within CSOs
- A KP monitoring framework document is developed in a participatory manner.
- A monitoring guide for CSOs is produced.
- Quarterly, semi-annual, and annual independent monitoring reports are produced and disseminated.
- An executive summary including recommendations is designed and disseminated to decision makers.
- An initial baseline study, a final evaluation report and a capitalization document are produced and disseminated.
Within the framework of this project, the methodology of data collection will be through interviews, focus groups discussion, semi-structured observation, which will require the development of interview guides. The SIPROKIM project targets directly, local authorities, public decision-makers, and the media.
