DIAMONDS ARE A GIRL’S
BEST FRIEND?
THE HISTORY OF A
DIAMOND Diamonds in Africa were formed somewhere between 600 million and 3 billion years ago when titanic-force pressure and heat caused carbon 1,200 miles (1,931 km) below the Earth’s surface to crystallize. As recently as a million years ago, erupting molten rock brought the diamonds closer to the Earth’s surface. Desire for diamonds has never been greater and the industry continues to grow despite rising costs and concern over legitimacy. Despite the company’s seeming monopoly on the world’s diamonds, De Beers insists that their diamonds are 100 percent conflict-free The World Diamond Council, formed in 2000 to combat illegal diamond trading in Africa, maintains that diamonds benefit the world in many ways other than just looking pretty. For example, roughly 10 million people worldwide are supported by the diamond industry. Also, revenue from the diamond industry is integral to the fight against HIV/AIDS in Africa. Popular with celebrities old and new diamonds are highly sought after items. Not many people know the true extent of the horrors endured by the diamond miners of Sierra Leone to provide the diamonds on our high streets.
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WAR ON BLOOD
DIAMONDS Do you know where your diamonds come from? Even with the introduction of the Kimberley process blood diamonds are still slipping through the net. Blood diamonds have helped fund devastating civil wars in Africa, destroying the lives of millions. Conflict diamonds are those sold in order to fund armed conflict and civil war. Profits from the trade in conflict diamonds, worth billions of dollars, were used by warlords and rebels to buy arms during the devastating wars in Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Sierra Leone. Wars that have cost an estimated 3.7 million lives. While the wars in Angola and Sierra Leone are now over, and fighting in the DRC has decreased, the problem of conflict diamonds hasn’t gone away. Diamonds mined in rebel-held areas in Côte d’Ivoire, a West African country in the midst of a volatile conflict, are reaching the international diamond market. Conflict diamonds from Liberia are also being smuggled into neighboring countries and exported as part of the legitimate diamond trade.
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SH OIMER R A L EONE E OF BLOOD DI AMONDS The human cost of Liberia’s two civil wars and the related conflict in
the mines in the area. Then the group moved on to the next village
Sierra Leone was staggering. 200,000 people were killed, 2 million
to do more of the same, effectively terrorizing the entirety of Sierra
displaced, and half of Sierra Leone’s female population subjected to
Leone, to the point that many people fled their homes in fear. All in
sexual violence including rape, torture and sexual slavery. Natural
all, roughly 20,000 innocent people suffered bodily mutilation, 75,000
resources did not trigger these conflicts, but they were crucial to
were killed and 2 million fled Sierra Leone altogether. According
funding them.
to National Geographic News, all of these conflicts combined have
In Sierra Leone a group known as the Revolutionary United Front killed, threatened, and even cut off the arms of people living and working in diamond villages until they were able to take control of
displaced millions and resulted in the deaths of more than 4 million people. As rebel leader and later president, warlord Charles Taylor monopolised the diamond industry in Liberia and then eastern Sierra Leone, where he traded diamonds for guns with the Revolutionary United Front (RUF). At its peak, this rebel group was bringing in as much as $125m annually from the illicit diamond trade. Global Witness first exposed how “blood diamonds” were driving these conflicts, and a UN investigation in 2000 confirmed that stones were being systematically smuggled out from eastern Sierra Leone through Liberia, and from there onto the international market. The UN finally imposed sanctions on Liberian diamonds in March 2001 – at which point the Taylor regime turned its focus onto the timber trade. Taylor established a shadow state that bypassed the normal state institutions and diverted timber revenues to private bank accounts rather than the national treasury.
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THE KIMBERLEY PROCESS
“A MAJOR MILESTONE OCCURRED IN 2003, WHEN A GOVERNMENT PROCESS WAS INTRODUCED TO STEM THE FLOW OF CONFLICT DIAMONDS”
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HOW DOE S I T W OR K ? THE KIMBERLEY PROCESS
The Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (Kimberley Process or KP) is an international governmental certification scheme that was set up to prevent the trade in diamonds that fund conflict. Launched in January 2003, the scheme requires governments to certify that shipments of rough diamonds are conflict-free. In 1998, Global Witness launched a campaign to expose the role of diamonds in funding conflict, as part of broader research into the link between natural resources and conflict. In response to growing international pressure from Global Witness and other NGOs, the major diamond trading and producing countries, representatives of the diamond industry, and NGOs met in Kimberley, South Africa to determine how to tackle the blood diamond problem. The meeting, hosted by the South African government, was the start of an often contentious three-year negotiating process which culminated in the establishment of an international diamond certification scheme. The Kimberley Process was endorsed by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) and the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) and launched in January 2003.
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THE KIMBERLEY PROCESS HAS CHALKED UP SOME NOTEABLE ACHIEVEMENTS HELPING SOME OF THE COUNTRIES WORST HIT BY DIAMOND-FUELLED WARS.
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HOW CAN I HELP? STOPPING THE SALE OF BLOOD DIAMONDS
Look for diamonds free from all violence, not just civil wars. For a diamond to be ethically
treat local ecosystems with respect. Ask to see your retailer’s official written
sourced, at the very least, it should not have
policy. At a bare minimum, every diamond
financed a civil war. But diamond-fueled
retailer should have an official written policy
violence often happens in countries that are
on ethical sourcing available for public
not officially at war. An ethically-sourced
view. Staff should also be fully aware of
diamond should be mined in conditions
company policies and able to explain them
wholly free from bloodshed, regardless of
to shoppers. If your retailer doesn’t have any
the cause.
information, beware!
Look for diamonds mined in accordance
Ask your retailer to identify the origins
with strict labor and environmental
of each diamond and describe labor and
standards.
environmental conditions at mining sites
To be ethically sourced, a diamond must
Retailers should be able to identify the
be mined in keeping with strict labor and
mines, if not the country, where each of their
environmental standards. Child labor should
diamonds is mined. Retailers should also be
not be used. Workers should earn fair wages
able to provide information about the labor
and enjoy safe, decent working conditions.
and environmental controls in place at those
Miners or mining companies must take care
mines. If no information is available, it is
to avoid serious environmental harm and
questionable.
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65% OF THE WORLD’S
DIAMOND SUPPLY COMES FROM AFRICA.
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WHEN PURCHASING A DIAMOND ALWAYS MAKE SURE THAT THE DIAMONDS YOU BUY ARE CERTIFIED BY THE KIMBERLEY PROCESS. 11
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FOR OUR PEOPLE, EVERY DIAMOND PURCHASED RESPRESENTS FOOD ON THE TABLE; BETTER LIVING CONDITIONS; BETTER HEALTH CARE; PORTABLE AND SAFE DRINKING WATER; MORE ROADS TO CONNECT OUR REMOTE COMMUNITIES; AND MUCH MORE. - FESTUS MOGAE FORMER PRESIDENT OF BOTSWANA