A meeting of participants in the Kimberley Process has begun in Namibia amid doubts that the initiative is stemming trade in conflict diamonds.

To justify their concerns, rights groupsincluding Global Witness point to abuses of the scheme in Zimbabwe, and Venezuela's two-year withdrawal from the process to address compliance problems.

According to AFP, "Under Kimberley, rough diamonds are sealed in tamper-resistant containers and required to have forgery-resistant, conflict-free certificates with unique serial numbers each time they cross an international border."

But in January a mission by Partnership Africa Canada (PAC) found that Venezuela was still exporting diamonds despite the country's suspension from the process, implicating other process member states in the illicit diamond trade.