Ottawa, Ontario - The Kimberley Process, the steps put in place to stop the trade of "blood" diamonds, is losing ground in some of the world's most troubled countries, a new report shows.

Partnership Africa Canada (PAC), an NGO leader in the fight against conflict diamonds, released its annual review, "Diamonds and Human Security" earlier this week.

According to PAC, the report, which details the working conditions, trade and human rights of miners in some of the world's largest diamond-producing countries, states that there is evidence the Kimberley Process is becoming less effective, and there is a growing trade in illicit rough diamonds.

It describes "how an increasingly formulaic Kimberley Process regulatory system, once described as a glass three-quarters full, is becoming less rather than more effective in curtailing abuse and criminality," according to analysis of the report.

For the first time, the report was expanded to cover more countries, from three - Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Sierra Leone - to a total of 13 countries in both Africa and South America.

In addition to Angola, the DRC and Sierra Leone, the report examines the conditions underlying the diamond trade in Cote d'Ivoire, the Central African Republic, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Republic of the Congo and Zimbabwe, and, in South America, Brazil, Guyana and Venezuela.

Cote d'Ivoire is noted as being "the only country where the phenomenon of conflict diamonds officially exists today," the report states.

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