Blood diamonds -Facts
Traffic in diamonds has left a trail of carnage. While they may seem a symbol of happiness, the reality of the gems is far from that.Conflict, or blood diamonds are mined in a war zone and sold, usually clandestinely, in order to finance an insurgent or invading army’s war efforts. Exploitation of the laborers has also been linked to blood diamonds. The scenes from Leonardo DiCaprio’s Blood Diamonds the movie, isn’t too far from the truth where African miners are exposed to atrocious living conditions and even worse working conditions.
The Kimberley Process is a joint government, civil society and international diamond industry initiative established in 2002 to stem the flow of blood diamonds – rough diamonds that are used by rebel movements to finance wars against legitimate governments. The trade in these blood diamonds has contributed to devastating conflicts in countries such as Angola, Cote d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Sierra Leo The diamond industry estimates that blood diamonds represent 4 percent of the total trade in rough diamonds. Others have estimated that blood diamonds could amount to as high as 15 percent of the total trade. In 2001, the prduction of rough diamonds by the diamond industry had a market value of $7.9 billion. At the end of the diamond chain, this was converted into jewelry worth $54.1 billion.
The international diamond industry is taking serious steps to respond, like adoption by the World Diamond Congress, Antwerp, 19 July 2000, of a resolution which, if fully implemented, stands to increase the diamond industry’s ability to block blood diamonds from reaching market. Efforts for this include the launching, at the initiative of African diamond-producing countries, of an inclusive, worldwide consultation process of Governments, industry and civil society, referred to as the Kimberly Process, to devise an effective response to the problem of Blood diamonds.
The fighting that is fueled by the trade in blood diamonds has been relegated to a few Central and West African countries. Many of these countries have diamonds that are easier to mine and thus more readily available to smuggle, according to the Kimberly Process.
Taking up the international concern of the role played by the illicit blood diamond trade in fuelling conflict in Sierra Leone, the Security Council has adopted resolution 1306 on 5 July 2000 by imposing a ban on the direct or indirect import of rough diamonds from Sierra Leone not controlled by the Government of Sierra Leone through a Certificate of Origin regime. The selective travel ban and arms embargo on non-governmental forces were already in effect under resolution 1171 of 5 June 1998.
