Imagine having to leave your home, or worse, being killed, because two people you hardly know are fighting over a gem right now. Would you like it? Events like these take place nearly every single day in countries such as Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Sierra Leone. What is the gem that they are fighting over? Diamonds. These diamonds, known to many as blood diamonds, conflict diamonds, and war diamonds are what fill the coffers of the warlords and rebel forces of the countries listed above. The money that is derived from the sale of these diamonds is linked to civil war, genocide, and terrorism. To stop the atrocious acts mentioned before, I propose that more needs to be done to stop the flow of blood diamonds in these countries, and that more of that money is put into the pockets of the citizens and the government to improve the quality of life in these third world countries.
Over the past ten years over 6.5 million people have been displaced and almost 3.7 million people have been killed in the African countries of Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Sierra Leone due to the illegal trade of blood diamonds (“Clean Diamond Trade Act”). However, blood diamonds are not limited to just those three countries; acts of violence related to blood diamonds have also been seen in countries such as the Republic of Congo, the Ivory Coast (also known as Côte d'Ivoire), Liberia, and Zimbabwe. Many people believe that blood diamonds are not a problem at all and that the trade is self-regulated along with the trade regulations set by the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS). However, as Pervenia Brown stated in her 2005 article “Blood Diamonds – Sierra Leone,” “[c]onflict diamonds are valued ‘between...
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...s' Still Sold by. U.S. Retailers." Common Dreams. Common Dreams, 1 Apr. 2004. Web. 14 Apr. 2011. .
Brown, Pervenia P. "Blood Diamonds - Sierra Leone." WorldPress. WorldPress, 13 Dec. 2005. Web. 14 Apr. 2011. .
Can Blood Diamonds Be Good? ABC World News. ABC, 29 Feb. 2008. Web. 25 Apr. 2011. .
“Clean Diamond Trade Act.” 19 USC. Sec. 3901. U.S. Department of State. U.S. State Department, n.d. Web. 14 Apr. 2011. .
"FAQs - The De Beers Group." De Beers. De Beers, 2008. Web. 18 Apr. 2011. .
Perry, Alex, and Columbus Mavhunga. "Cursed Stones." Time 176.20 (2010): 50-54. Business Source Premier. EBSCO. Web. 14 Apr. 2011.
Deep within African mines, elusive diamonds lay enveloped in the Earth’s crust. Possessing much influence, beauty, and tension, nature’s hardest known substance causes parallel occurrences of unity and destruction on opposite sides of the globe. Diamonds, derived from the Greek word "adamas", meaning invincible, are formed deep within the mantle, and are composed entirely from carbon. Moreover, only under tremendous amounts of heat and pressure can diamonds form into their preliminary crystal state. In fact, diamonds are formed approximately 150km- 200km below the surface and at radical temperatures ranging from 900-1300 C°. When these extremes meet, carbon atoms are forced together creating diamond crystals. Yet how do these gems, ranking a ten on Moh’s hardness scale, impact the individual lives of millions of people besides coaxing a squeal out of brides-to-be? These colorless, yellow, brown, green, blue, reddish, pink, grey and black minerals are gorgeous in their cut state, but how are these otherwise dull gems recognized and harvested? Furthermore, how and why is bloodshed and violence caused over diamonds in Africa, the supplier of approximately 65% of the world’s diamonds? (Bertoni) The environmental, social, and economic impact of harvesting, transporting, and processing diamonds is crucial because contrary to popular belief, much blood has been spilled over first-world “bling”.
Think about how your life was when you were ten. For most people, the only worries were whether you finished your homework and if you’ve been recently updated for new games. Unfortunately, in Sierra Leone, kids at the age of ten were worried about if that day was the only day they’d be able to breathe. The cause of one of this devastating outcome is Sierra Leone’s Civil War. This war was a long bloody fight that took many lives and hopes of children and families.
Cate Reavis prepared the case study, which this review is based, under the supervision of Professor David McAdams. It was published in MITSloan management review in January 2008. The article looks at how DeBeers became a superpower in the diamond trade in the 1900’s. How this position as challenged in the late 1990’s and how DeBeers used key strategic management tools to overcome these challenges to become the superpower it once was.
War-ravaged Sierra Leone had trouble maintaining order, many still unclear what type of government they were living by. For years, the government of Sierra Leone had “made repeated commitments to...
Hauser, E., 2002. "The Diamond Cartel: Monopolizing an Industry.". History Behind the Headlines: The Origins of Conflicts Worldwide. Ed. Sonia G. Benson, Nancy Matuszak, and Meghan Appel O'Meara. Vol. 3. Detroit: Gale, pp. 61-72.
In “ “Blood Diamonds” and Africa’s Armed Conflicts in the Post – Cold War Era, “ Orogun (2004) said that diamonds are referring as “clean stones”. This article explains about the black market is really happening in African. I am using this article to support how the black market of diamond trades is still not regulated, and they defined it as “licit” trade.
A beautiful precious diamond can last forever, but what most people do not know is that a majority of our diamonds come from Africa. The civil wars in Africa over diamonds began around 1961 and ended in 2003. Conflict diamonds were rampant and it would be difficult to say if any jewelry sold prior to 2003 was conflict free. Conflict diamonds are diamonds that have been mined and were controlled by African rebels. The rebels would use the profits from selling conflict diamonds to fund illegal activity and to purchase more weapons for their armies. While rebels had control of the diamond mines they killed approximately 4 million people and countless families were displaced.
Spar, D.L. 2006. Markets: Continuity and Change in the International Diamond Market. The Journal of Economic Perspectives. 20(3): 195-208
It’s hard to imagine that a mineral could be fueling wars and funding corrupt governments. This mineral can be smuggled undetected across countries in a coat pocket, then be sold for vast amounts of money. This mineral is used in power tools, parts of x-ray machines, and microchips but mostly jewelry. Once considered the ultimate symbol of love, the diamond has a darker story. "Blood" diamonds or "conflict" diamonds are those mined, polished, or traded in areas of the world where the rule of law does not exist. They often originate in war-torn countries like Liberia, Sierra Leone, Angola, and Côte d'Ivoire were rebels use these gems to fund genocide or other questionable objectives. Even with a system known as the Kimberly process which tracks diamonds to prevent trade of these illicit gems, infractions continue as the process is seriously flawed. The continuation of the blood diamond trade is inhuman, and unethical, and in order to cease this illicit trade further action to redefine a conflict diamond, as well as reform to the diamond certification prosess is nessasary.
The African Diamond Trade is a large cycle of exploitation. An estimated 65% of diamonds mined worldwide originate in Africa (Cahill 2009). In 2016, the U.S. diamond industry grew 4% to reach $40 billion, approximately half of a global $80 billion industry (DeBeers Group 2017). But how do these diamonds make it from African river banks to American engagement rings? According to Time Magazine, there are 6 steps that take diamonds from the ground to the jewelry store; exploration, mining, sorting, cutting and polishing, manufacturing, and retailing (John and Jones 2015). Each of these steps adds value to the final product that is offered in jewelry stores worldwide but this value isn’t added fairly to those who create the most value.
In Zaire, or the Democratic Republic of the Congo, many children wake up to go mining for diamonds instead of going to school. When we think of diamonds, we tend to think of a precious gift that is a rarity which is tended to be given in proposals or other special occasions. The truth is, diamonds are quite common in west and central Africa, but to profit more off these blood diamonds the industry markets them off to be much more rare than they actually are. Blood diamonds, why are they called blood diamonds? Possibly because they are made by the bloody hands of small children who are in physical, mental, and emotional harm from working this burdensome job every day.
Out of all the earth’s major natural resources, diamonds are the most sought after and most mysterious. Throughout history, the virtuosity and resistance of diamonds have caused fighters and lover’s great pain and happiness. For centuries, the value of the diamond commodity became increasingly popular. However, it wasn’t until the mid 1900s, when diamonds permanently made their signature as the world’s most indispensable symbol of love and affection (Howard, Vick 2008). Soon after, diamond rings became the 21st century standard of engagement rings. Without a doubt, everybody in society knows how valuable this commodity is. Nonetheless, what truly makes this commodity more valuable are the stages it goes through from the diamond mines to th...
[5] Diamond Industry Annual Review, De Beers Signs New Angolan Agreement, [internet] Accessed on: 13th November 2005, http://www.pacweb.org/e/images/stories/documents/addendum%20angola%202005-english.pdf
The film marker is trying to raise awareness of the illicit conflict diamond trade and reinforcing the Kimberley process1 and showing how it will stem the flow of conflict diamonds. This is successful mainly due to the public outburst after the movie. The great impact of the movie has caused diamond companies like De Beers2 to start a pre-emptive PR (public relationship) campaign, even before the movie was released to inform people that their diamonds are conflict-free.
... rebel fighters and insurgencies. The practice is most often associated with conflicts in Africa. The argument surrounding blood diamonds was brought to light in the early 1990s with civil wars in Sierra Leone, Angola, the Republic of Congo, and Liberia. During this time, blood diamonds comprised about 5 percent of the world diamond market, according to the World Diamond Council’s DiamondFacts.org website.