Natural Resources and Violent Conflict - WaterWiki.net

178 winer and rouleentails recommendations, rather than binding controls, for how diamondsare to be handled from mining to export. Participation in the“chain of warranties” that follows the initial export is voluntary, andmonitoring and enforcement are left to self-regulation. After the rumorsthat members of Al-Qaeda were attempting to exploit the looselyregulated tanzanite markets, American dealers in precious stones undertookinitial steps to apply to tanzanite measures similar to thosespecified in the Kimberley process, although implementation has yetto take place (“Kimberley Process for Tanzanite” 2002). Neither theKimberley process nor the Tucson protocols include any measurescovering financial mechanisms.Endangered Species. In 1975 the Convention on InternationalTrade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) cameinto force, affording various degrees of protection to more than 30,000species of animals and plants, whether they are traded as live specimens,fur coats, or dried herbs. There are currently 160 parties toCITES, which requires that the export of any specimen of a species includedin its Appendix I require permission and the presentation of anexport permit and that the import of such a specimen require permission,an import permit, and either an export permit or a reexport certificate.18 CITES requires parties to criminalize trade in protected speciesand to maintain records of trade in the protected species. 19 The conventiondoes not address financial mechanisms that may be used in suchtrade. The Palermo convention covers transnational criminal activityinvolving endangered species, however, including an obligation to regulateand enforce the laundering of the illicit proceeds of trafficking insuch species.Firearms. Although many countries have long required end-usercertificates for weapons, a common certification approach was notadopted until the passage in June 2002 of the Protocol against theIllicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms, Their Partsand Components, and Ammunition supplementing the Palermo convention.20 The certification approach is similar to that of CITES, requiringimport, export, and reexport certificates as applicable. Notably,the firearms protocol lies within the framework of a convention thatcriminalizes the laundering of the proceeds of any activity that violatesits terms. Thus the firearms protocol is backstopped by the obligationto criminalize, regulate, and enforce violations of the protocol, whichinclude all forms of illicit cross-border activities involving firearms.The firearms protocol also prompted the Customs Cooperation Councilof the World Customs Organization to add particular categories