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 Conflict
Diamonds are Blood Diamonds
Diamond mines in politically unstable parts of central and western
African countries are controlled by few revolutionary groups and where
innocent human lives are subjected to torture, terrorism, violence and
human rights abuse and in many cases the ultimate prices - death.
As the journalist Douglas Farah writes, "Diamonds are valuable as
currency in this conflict diamond trade for numerous reasons. They are
easy to transport, easy to sell and retain their value over time. They
do not rot and do not need to be held in special conditions".
''Stop Blood Diamonds'' is an organization pledged to stopping the
exploitation of the diamond trade by human rights abusers. Blood
diamonds, often called conflict diamonds, are mined in war torn African
countries by rebels to fund their conflict. The rebels grossly abuse
human rights, often murdering and enslaving the local populations to
mine the diamonds.
Read more...(External Link)
Blood Diamonds and Governments
Many of the world’s diamonds are harvested using practices that exploit
and degrade children, communities, the labor force, and the local
environment. Workers are subject to brutality, degrading working
conditions, low pay and sometimes death. Consider the facts: over 1
million diamond diggers in Africa are paid less than $1 a day, living in
poverty and working in dangerous conditions. Many of the diamond workers
in Africa are children under the age of 16, accounting for between
30-50% of the workforce in countries like the Congo, Angola, and Sierra
Leone. Local communities in Angola are being tortured by local diamond
companies in an effort to force them off the diamond rich land, while
the government turns a blind eye.
Fortunately, more is being done to prevent and discourage the diamond
trade through these conflict regions and exclude such conflict diamonds
from the international trade. This effort was called "The Kimberly
Process". Read more about the Kimberly Process below.
Diamonds and Rebellions
These rebel groups in Africa sell diamonds from these mines to fund
their operations and these diamonds are called conflict or blood
diamonds. The public concerns about the purchase of such diamonds
leading to war and human rights abuses the diamond industry introduced
the Kimberley Process in 2002. This process ensures that diamonds sold
by such rebel groups are not sold along with other diamonds. The
Kimberley process provides documentation and certification of diamond
exports from diamond producing countries to ensure that the proceeds of
sale are not being used to fund criminal or revolutionary activities.
Having such strict procedures also does not help
curb the blood diamond trade to the fullest extent. Approximately 2% of
diamonds traded today are possible conflict diamonds. This is due to the
relative ease of smuggling diamonds across African borders and violent
nature of diamond mining in nations which are not in a technical state
of war and whose diamonds are therefore considered “clean".
Read more...(External Link)
Terrorism and Human Rights Abuses
Conflict diamonds are so called because these come from countries that
suffer from terrorism and human rights abuses. Several groups which want
to control diamond trade in these countries have killed many innocents.
Therefore, conflict diamonds are also called blood diamonds. The money
earned by selling these diamonds is also used to fund such terrorist
activities of these groups in West African countries like Angola, Sierra
Leone, Ivory Coast, Democratic Republic of Congo and the Republic of
Congo (also known as Congo Brazzaville) and Liberia.
The Tragedy of Sierra Leone
During the late 1990’s, blood diamonds caught the world’s attention
during the extremely brutal conflict in Sierra Leone. It was estimated
that 4% of the diamonds traded during that time were conflict diamonds.
There was an important study done to shed light on
the Sierra Leone tragedy. It exposes how diamonds - small pieces of carbon
with no great intrinsic value - have been the cause of widespread death,
destruction and misery for almost a decade in the small West African country
of Sierra Leone. Through the 1990s, Sierra Leone’s rebel war became a
tragedy of major humanitarian, political and historic proportions, but the
story goes back further - almost 60 years, to the discovery of the diamonds.
The diamonds are, to use the title of Graham
Greene’s classic 1948 novel about diamond smuggling in Sierra Leone, The
Heart of the Matter. In the 1960s and 1970s, a weak post-independence
democracy was subverted by despotism and state-sponsored corruption.
Economic decline and military rule followed. The rebellion that began in
1991 was characterized by banditry and horrific brutality, wreaked primarily
on civilians. Between 1991 and 1999, the war claimed over 75,000 lives,
caused half a million Sierra Leoneans to become refugees, and displaced half
of the country’s 4.5 million people.
Read more..(External
Link).
Diamonds and De Beers - The Diamond
Cartel
Until the 1980s, De Beers was directly involved in
Sierra Leone, had concessions to mine diamonds offshore, and maintained an
office in Freetown. Since then, however, the relationship has been indirect.
De Beers maintains a diamond trading company in Liberia and a buying office
in Conakry, Guinea.[1] Both countries produce very few diamonds themselves,
and Liberia is widely understood to be a ‘transit’ country for smuggled
diamonds. Many ‘Liberian’ diamonds are of Sierra Leonean origin, and others
reportedly originate as far away as Russia and Angola. De Beers says that it
does not purchase Sierra Leonean diamonds. Through its companies and buying
offices in West Africa, however, and in its attempts to mop up supplies
everywhere in the world, it is virtually inconceivable that the company is
not - in one way or another - purchasing diamonds that have been smuggled
out of Sierra Leone.
Read more...
The Kimberly Process - An End to Conflict
Diamonds?
More than 99% of the world's diamonds are now from conflict free sources
and are officially traded under the UN mandated Kimberley Process. We are glad
to bring you diamonds that are conflict free and have been mined and traded with
the strict guidelines of the Kimberly Process.
Thanks to the international effort that
started in May 2000 when Southern African diamond producing states met
in Kimberley, South Africa, to come up with a way to stop the trade in
conflict diamonds and to ensure consumers that the diamonds that they
purchase have not contributed to violent conflict and human rights
abuses in their countries of origin. In December 2000....
Read more...
Read More Useful Information about
Diamonds
A symbol of innocence, justice, faith and strength, the diamond was
believed to make its wearers courageous and victorious over their
enemies. When set in gold and worn on the left side, it held the power
to drive away nightmares and soothe savage beasts. Diamonds were even
thought to be so powerful that they could stop lechery.
Diamonds have lured and fascinated us for
centuries. Their ores and lore recorded romantic and bloody events in
the past. Diamonds have been long cherished and sought after, fought
over and killed for in the human history simply because of its beauty
and the fascination....
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