Conflict Diamonds

What Are Conflict Diamonds?

Conflict diamonds, also called blood diamonds, are diamonds sold by rebel, military and terrorist groups to fund unlawful, illegal, and often times brutal, operations to overthrown lawful and legitimate governments.

These groups use child labor and slave labor under the most horrendous conditions imaginable, in violation of human rights, to mine these diamonds. The diamonds are then sold to unscrupulous intermediaries for pennies on the dollar.

The conflict diamonds eventually mix with non-conflict diamonds and make their way to your local jewelry stores. Countries that have been affected by conflict diamonds are Angola, Liberia, Sierra Leone and the Democratic Republic of Congo.


Kimberley Process

In 2000, South African countries with legitimate diamond trades began a campaign to track the origins of all rough diamonds in an attempt to cut off the blood diamond trade from the known conflict areas.

Their efforts resulted in The Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS), a multinational cooperative attempt to rid the world of conflict diamonds by eliminating an outlet for these diamonds.

The aim of the Kimberley Process was to document and track every rough diamond’s origins with a certificate of origin to prove they did not come from a conflict zone.

Unfortunately, as with many multinational and non-governmental agencies efforts, and self-regulating programs, the KPCS has not been adopted by all its members and many countries have not even committed to the program.

How to Tell If Your Diamond Is a Non-Conflict Diamond?

You can do your part to help end the conflict diamond trade. One sure way to know that you are not contributing to funding human rights abuse and illegal activities is to stop buying any diamonds. Before doing that, however, keep in mind that that diamonds mined and sold legally help the economy and promote prosperity in these diamond producing counties and their people.

A more practical way is to use your power as a consumer. As consumers, we have the power to demand details about the diamonds we buy. Demanding a certificate of origin as proof that a diamond is conflict-free sends a powerful message to diamond conglomerates and diamond producing nations that we will not support an industry or nations that helps fund terror groups or turn a blind eye to human rights abuse.