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Learning Center  Blood Diamonds What is a Conflict Diamond
Introduction: | What is a conflict diamond? |
Who hasn't heard of the slogan "A diamond lasts forever"? Diamonds have always occupied a very high status in the world of jewelry. Fueled by tradition and intense marketing campaigns, diamonds have achieved incomparable status. Starry eyed young men present gorgeous diamond rings to their girlfriends. Married couples exchange diamond studded jewelry over the years as symbols to their undying love. Celebrities and personalities don fabulous diamond jewelry whenever they go out in public. There is absolutely no doubt as to how valuable and sought after diamonds are.
As with most things in life, there is always something bad mixed with the good. A diamond may be a woman's best friend but a diamond can also be the bane of some people's existence - and I am not talking about the man's pocket here. The term conflict diamond, or blood diamond as others call it, became quite well-known to the average person in 2002 when the James Bond movie "Die Another Day" was released. This contribution to the legendary James Bond saga revolved around the idea of smuggling conflict diamonds.
So what is a conflict diamond? The UN formally defines a conflict diamond as a "diamond that originates from areas controlled by forces or factions opposed to legitimate and internationally recognized governments, and are used to fund military action in opposition to those governments, or in contravention of the decisions of the Security Council." In short, a conflict diamond is any diamond that is mined from an area in which there is war, or armed conflict. The idea is that diamonds are very much in demand and that they fetch such a high price in almost any market. If you mine diamonds and sell them to other countries - of which there is definitely no shortage - you can get a large amount of money for them. Where does the profit from these sales go?
You guessed it - to finance wars and other forms of armed conflict in the affected areas. The manner of mining and selling conflict diamonds is usually done in secret. You can just imagine what the reaction of the (average) buyer would be if he learned that he was financing a war somewhere in Africa with his transaction. Thus, people involved in the conflict diamond business do not really advertise what they are doing.
Although these activities have been going on for quite some time, it was only in 2000 that the international community formally recognized the gravity of the situation. In December of that year, the United Nations General Assembly recognized the role of rough diamonds in furthering the conflicts in specific areas in Africa. The General Assembly came up with a resolution aiming to severe the connection between the illegal sales of diamonds and wars in concerned areas.
With this resolution in place, countries that buy diamonds from Africa became more aware of the illicit trade. International sanctions were then put in place. In addition to these sanctions, individual countries set up their own methods and processes to curb the practice of trading conflict diamonds. The idea is that if no one will buy, then no one will sell. People who take advantage of conflict diamonds would have no market and thus the practice would stop.
We all know however, that in the real world, things are never as simple as they usually seem to be.
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Readers Comments Add Your Comments
 | I'll be really sad to known that a diamond I own was a Blood diamond because somebody may have died or been enslaved.
| | yeah, me too
| | I'll never buy a diamond. Just to be sure it's not from conflict. I'll probably never get married :)
| | I'm new to the blood diamond issue. I have a human rights background, but admit to be having some trouble wrapping my brain around some of the issues involved with blood diamonds.
In particular, I'm pondering the situation where the "forces or factions opposed to legitimate and internationally recognized governments" happen to have legitimate grievances. Especially in Africa where so many of the countries have atrociously bad human rights records (and in many cases can hardly be said to have legitimate governments) , what is so bad about rebel groups opposing abusive governments using diamonds to try to overthrow those governments.
I guess what I am saying is that so many of the sovereign countries use income from diamonds - not to mention oil and other resources - to abuse their citizens that it seems unfair that the blood diamond community should be targeting the rebels. Do you really feel that a rebel group fighting for survival against a Idi Amin- or Bokassa-type dictator should not be allowed to use diamond or other natural resource income to finance their insurgencies?
I have followed African politics for many years and am just not convinced that many of the "legitimate" governments are any less bestial that many of the rebel groups.
Similarly with oil, do you really want to protect the thuggish rulers of places like Sudan and Equatorial Guinea but cutting off the natural resource income of groups opposing them?
In many cases, the "blood" in "blood diamonds" appears to be generated not by the rebel groups, but by legitimate governments.
The situation seems to be similar with oil. Why not go after a country like Saudi Arabia. After all, rich Saudis used their riches primarily generated from oil to finance 9/11.
All I'm saying is that as you say, "things are never as simple as they usually seem to be."
| | The movie Blood Diamond planted the seed of awareness. In addition, this web site provides a great resource to help consumers like myself make responsible diamond purchases. Thank you for your efforts.
| | I am also new to the blood diamond issue. I can't agree with you more Lajuan. After seeing the movie 'Blood Diamond' I was shocked to see what really goes on in this market. It's amazing to me that I was so unaware of something like this. It makes me wonder what else goes on in other countries that I'm unware of and possbily paying into their markets. This movie moved me and made me feel horrible about having a stone in my wedding ring at all. Becasue truthfully, I have no idea if my stone is a conflict diamond or not. My husband and I both agreed that if we would have know this prior to purchase, we would never have bought a diamond at all. In the future we will be informed buyers, not that I see another diamond in my future.
On a side note, I would love to see more films that shed light on these sorts of issues. In all seriousness, you just don't see this sort of thing on the news and my hand is not on the pulse of such issues.
Tina - Seattle
| | I have seen the movie "Blood Diamond" and it opened my eyes to what was going on in Africa. I decided to do my research on this topic and write a paper to make people aware of the crime that is being commited there. No one should have to go through this type of horror. We "Americans" as well as other people, take too much for granted while other people are suffering. We should take a step to help these people because this is good for no one. It is truly heart-breaking to see pictures and read information on how human beings are being killed, raped, treated badly, and are having their body parts amputated in an act of crulty. I will keep them in my prayers and I hope you will to.
| | i hate blood and diamonds now that i read this they suck
| | I have watch blood diamond and felt very passionat about conflic dimonds after i watch this film i have watch the bond film with also the story of blood diamond but did not find the awarness on that film affectful after watchin leo in that film i found myself aware not to buy a diamond and if ever to recieve one to find out if it was bought under conflict i fell more strong now about it and very passionate so if my friends ever show me there diamond ring to question is it a conflic diamond or not to make them aware n feel as passionate as i do about this now not many people my age which is 20 of what this is i hope i can raise awareness like this site . x
| | i saw Leo's Blood Diamond and it's really break my heart knowing that so much grief inside a small things such as diamond. most people buy diamond for luxury without knowing where it came from. i agree with anyone in forum that we should aware about the diamond we're going to buy. i think i will not buy diamond as engagement ring, just to make sure that i am not the one who add more misery to people in conflist's area.
| | I have a problem with diamonds relating to an allergy but this still upsets me and even if I didn't have this allergy I would think twice about buying diamonds given it may have led to a dead person. My allergy is for life though so its not a real consideration.
| | Leo did once again a great movie and it's very promising that at least some celebs use their fame to raise some issues into public awareness (they are not only altruistic, I know).
However, cease buying diamonds will cut off an income source for some emerging countries, and that wouldn't help neither. The current (during the last few years) situation is probably not a too bad one, having international bodies that try to minimize the share of conflict diamonds and a more and more aware customer base.
If we would be very consequent in not buying conflict-related products, we would probably not buy a lot of things, as a result of our globalized world. But the ladder allows on the other hand to discussing this as we just do and finding solutions.
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