|
|
Conflict or Blood Diamonds
What is a 'Conflict Diamond'?
[The story below is fictional, but events like this actually took place]
Naomi is seven and she lives with her parents in a small village in Sierra Leone. She likes to draw and her mother has some of her pictures pinned to the wall in their humble dwelling. Naomi wakes from a restless sleep; it is Sunday, she can play with the other children in her village. She puts on her prettiest red dress with white ribbon and lace white edges and goes out to play. They like to dress nice on Sundays. Her best friend in the world is little Jomi. Jomi is two years younger than Naomi and she remembers him as a baby. They play all the games we play in our western society; hide and seek, Mr Wolf or Mr Lion as they call it. Their favourite is hunt the teddy. Jomi always cheats. He looks where Naomi hides the teddy, but she always lets him win, she is kind and generous.
While playing hunt the teddy; suddenly there is the sound of men shouting and guns firing. A patrol of the RUF storms into their village. Naomi and Jomi run into Naomi's house and hide under her bed. Naomi's parents also hear the commotion and rush into Naomi's room to find and comfort them. Then suddenly a trooper from the RUF bursts into the house and orders them out.
The RUF commander, dressed in military uniform, orders the entire village into a line. He walks down the line and picks out every fourth person, Naomi is one of them and Jomi is another. A trooper appears with a block of wood and a machete. He goes to the first of the selected victims a teenage boy called Hari. Another trooper places Hari's leg on the wooden block. Then with one blow severs Hari's right leg just below the knee. At this point Jomi, who is next in line runs towards his mother. In a second a shot rings out and Jomi is hit in the head. He lies bleeding on the floor and his mother rushes towards his lifeless body. Two more shots are fired. She slumps to the ground next to Jomi and starts crawling towards him. The trooper walks towards Jomi's mother, stands over her, fires one shot to the back of her head. Her outstretched hand is now motionless and a pool of blood spreads out from her down turned head.
Naomi stands in line, to terrified to move, her breathing is heavy and her head fills with blood. She stares into the distance, looking at everything but seeing nothing. The trooper with the wooden block approaches Naomi. He makes Naomi kneel down and places her right arm on the wooden block, which is now soaked red with the blood of Hari. Naomi still stars motionless into the distance. Her mother is crying and screaming, being held back by Naomi's father. Then, with one sharp strike Naomi's arm is severed above the elbow. Almost in slow motion, Naomi looks into the eyes of the trooper holding the machete. He does not return the gaze. Another trooper comes along, picks up Naomi's severed arm and throws it into a black sack with Hari's severed leg. Naomi slumps to the ground, her arm bleeding badly from where the machete took her limb. Her mother rushes to her, this time the RUF trooper holds his fire. Her mother tears her own dress to try and stem the blood gushing from Naomi's arm. The troopers, with a calm ruthlessness that questions humanity itself carry on down the line till the sack is almost full.
The commander of the RUF unit then tells the villages that the RUF have taken control of the diamond mine and that they expect full co-operation from the villages to mine the diamonds for them, there is no resistance to the RUF.
Conflict diamonds is too nice a term. At DiamondHunt we guarantee 100% the diamonds we source are CONFLICT FREE. We are also setting up a trust fund for the child victims in Sierra Leone where 1% of all sales will be paid into this fund. Even though our diamonds are conflict free we feel our industry is responsible and want to give some back to those who have suffered.
It is ironic that an object of beauty and everlasting love can have been created in such a brutal way. Conflict diamonds have been used in the diamond industry for a long time. They have been used to raise money for guns and bombs and to kill and maim innocent people, mainly in African states.
There are also rumours that international terrorists have also used diamonds to raise funds and even Bin Laden himself used the diamond industry to raise funds. So why has the world trade community allowed this to happen? Because to do something about it will cost money and it is only poor Africans that suffer, like little Naomi. The US made a token gesture by banning diamonds from conflict areas such as Sierra Leone. This was an empty gesture as the restrictions applied to the exporting country and had no bearing on where the diamond came from. All the RUF had to do was smuggle the diamonds to a neighbouring country and export from there.
It has largely been the actions of the charity 'Global Witness' that has pressured governments and the diamond industry to take action on conflict diamonds. Global Witness published a report in December 1998 entitled 'A Rough Trade', which started to focus consumer's attention on the conflict diamond trade and embarrass industry leaders such ad De Beers to take action. On the success of the 'Rough Trade' campaign Global Witness launched their 'Fatal Transactions' campaign in October 1999. This campaign was to involve walking children with severed limbs down the street some of Americas biggest diamond retail areas. Almost immediately De Bees announced a complete embargo on buying diamonds from one of the major conflict areas Angola.
Six months after the 'Fatal Transaction' campaign Global Witness were able to lobby the U.S. congressional hearing in May 2000 which was the catalyst for the establishment of a world wide certification of origin process that was to be called the Kimberly Process.
The Kimberly process was commenced in May 2000, now almost three years later conflict diamonds are still being sold and innocent Africans are still being killed and maimed.
Countries that have the most to loose if diamond sales are affected by global awareness of conflict diamonds have pioneered the Kimberly Process. It is right and proper that the industry of non-conflict diamonds should continue and prosper. Indeed Nelson Mandela himself has stated that the countries of Botswana and Namibia will suffer greatly if worldwide sales of diamonds decline. I think however, it is true to say that if the Americans had been involved in the Kimberly Process from the start better progress would have been made. Remember that 80% of cut diamonds are sold to the US.
The Kimberly process is a certification process where the actual country of origin has to be certified. This however only applies to rough diamonds. Once the diamond has been exported the KP recommends an audit trail of guarantee on invoices to say that the diamonds being sold are conflict free. The idea is that if you control the source of conflict diamonds then all diamonds down the diamond pipeline will be conflict free. This is a good idea in principal but I am not sure how well it will work in practice.
The KP itself is riddled with problems. This is a consequence of dealing with a global problem where many countries and politicians are involved. One of the main faults with the KP is that there are no requirements for individual mines to be monitored by own governments. This is probably the biggest flaw in the process. Therefore it will be relatively easy for a determined RUF controlled mine to continue to mine conflict diamonds then simply smuggle them into the mine of a non-conflict country. These conflict diamonds would then be certified as coming from the non-conflict area and away they go.
You can guarantee that where there are flaws in any process determined outlaws would find and manipulate those flaws.
The KP is not clear on the treatment of diamonds mined before the KP came into force. It is strongly believed that the RUF and other conflict areas have large stockpiles of diamonds that can be smuggled into the process as legitimate stocks of pre KP diamonds. Under the KP diamonds mined pre certification will be deemed to be conflict free.
Another glaring area of concern is the voluntary guarantee process from export to finished product. The 'diamond pipeline' as it is called can have many handover points and with a voluntary audit trail back to source keeping track of diamonds from KP certified rough diamond to the engagement ring in the shop would be impossible. Additionally, who is going to monitor and police the voluntary process? Currently the KP is a process with no authority.
A very good example of the problems facing the KP is that of free trade under the WTO or GATT as it used to be called. The KP says that if a country is found to be not strictly following the KP other KP participating countries can refuse to trade with that country. However if all the countries concerned are members of the WTO refusal to trade is illegal under WTO agreements. So, to resolve this problem a sub committee of the WTO passed a resolution on 13 February 2003 recommending that in the occasion of a participating country not complying with the KP other WTO countries CAN refuse to trade with that country. This however was a sub committee resolution, which will have to go to the main council of the WTO before it becomes binding. This almost seems like a Monty Python sketch.
There are now 4 separate working groups making up the KP and all the time conflict diamonds continued to be sold. I am sure that with increasing pressure form NGO's such as Amnesty International and Global Witness the KP will be effective in the end, but how long will it take?
One significant area overlooked by the KP is where these diamonds are cut. Currently 80% of the world's diamonds are cut in India, so if 80% of all gems to be sold to the public pass through one country, then perhaps controls in that country would be a good place to start.
So what can be done?
Like most things that happen in this world, consumer pressure and the risk of reducing balance sheets is the only real answer. We have seen this already with De Beers. Their web site now has the following statement "De Beers has adopted a proactive and uncompromising stance on conflict diamonds. The Group has issued a guarantee that none of the diamonds it sells through the DTC - its sales and marketing arm - have been sourced from areas held by rebels opposing legitimate governments." This is a very good start as De Beers DTC still controls 75% of the world diamond trade.
At the end of the day it is down to the buying public. It is the responsibility for anyone buying a diamond to make sure the diamond they buy is not a conflict diamond. Ask where the diamonds come from, make your jeweller or diamond supplier provide proof or evidence that their diamonds are conflict free. If the RUF have no way of selling their diamonds only then will they stop the torture of innocent people.
All the diamonds on our www.DiamondHunt.co.uk database come from cutters who source their diamonds from DeBeers mines only. This way we can guarantee our diamonds are CONFLICT FREE.
A diamond is a token of everlasting love. I for one would be devastated if I knew that the diamond on my wife's finger was responsible for little Naomi learning to draw with her left hand.
Steve Hunt
Director - DiamondHunt.co.uk.ltd
|
 Why Use Us ?
Contact Us
What the
papers say
Conflict
Diamonds
Tell A friend.
|
Looking for certified diamonds for your engagement or anniversary?
Designs for engagement, anniversary and cocktail rings. Diamond jewellery purchases online.
diamond Round Brilliant Princess Emerald Marquise Oval Heart Pear. Diamond engagement ring and diamond eternity rings Also jewellery gold and diamond necklace. Loose diamond uk based buy online. Platinum diamond engagement ring diamond earring buy diamond uk
diamond price uk certified diamond uk We can take the mystery out of this experience, and help you purchase the best diamond jewelry product money can buy. Even after the sale is made, we guarantee your purchase satisfaction in many ways. Your diamond is sure to keep good value as well - it has been certified by a prominent diamond grading lab. Such diamonds are often kept by families for hundreds of years.
| |
|
