CLEER WP 2014/3 - Fernández Arribas
The European Union and the Kimberley Process
Gloria Fernandez Arribas
This Working Paper focuses on role of the European Union (EU) in the Kimberley Process, (KP) with specific attention devoted to the current efforts that aim at enhancing the credibility and effectiveness of and the protection of human rights by the KP.
The paper explores the origins of the rough diamond regulation that laid the foundations of the current system, including its objective, function, administrative structure, legal status and failures and analyses the relationship between the EU and the KP. Further, the role of the EU within the KP will be explored and one of the more complicated aspects of the relationship: how the EU implements the KP rules and how the EU’s powers are internally organised, given that it involves two different areas of the EU, commercial policy and conflict prevention. To conclude, this study will consider human rights and the so-called Marange problem, as well as the EU’s somewhat questionable stance on this matter.
As can be seen from the above, this study aims to provide clarification of a matter which has now been present in EU external relations for ten years, and which is becoming ever more important as the relationship between natural resources and violent conflicts becomes increasingly evident, especially within the African continent. The paper wishes to fill lacunae, as little research has been done concerning the important implications of the relationship between the EU and KP, despite the fact that the KP touches upon many different areas of EU policy and implies the implementation of a non-binding agreement to which the EU Member States are not party.
About the author:
Dr. Gloria Fernández Arribas is Assistant Professor of International Law at the University Pablo de Olavide. Sevilla (Spain) She has been visiting researcher at the University Robert Schuman (Strasbourg. France), the University of Twente (Enschede. Netherlands), the King’s College London (UK), and Fordham University (New York. USA)
Her research interests lie in the area external relations of the European Union. She received her PhD in International Law from the University Pablo de Olavide (2008) and her Thesis focused on the legal capacities of the European Union as a subject of Public International Law, published in 2010.
Download more information
