There are so many great things to argue about! Let’s see… I can’t wait for the day when my gay friends can enjoy all the same privileges my husband and I do. I have my own unique views on abortion. I think we need to stop destroying our planet. But all of those arguments are loud and clear, on both sides. So I decided to shed light on an issue that isn’t in the front of our minds. Some of us have heard of it, and some haven’t — Blood Diamonds.

 When I began doing research on blood diamonds, with only having seen the movie, I discovered that they are not as big of a problem as they once were. In the 90’s the problem was enormous, but now only about 1% of diamonds are conflict. So I thought I couldn’t really write an argument paper on it anymore. But then I thought about it. 1% of a bazillion-dollar industry is still a problem. So when I dug deeper, I opened a huge can of worms.

I did a LOT of research for the paper, and even still I needed to find out a certain piece of information regarding Zimbabwe. Interestingly enough, what I needed was not anywhere on the web (it’s all very “shady”). I actually had to contact someone I have quoted in my paper, and to my surprise he wrote back; he even gave me documents not meant for the public. I felt a bit like an investigative reporter. Anyway, I condensed what I learned, and now I give it to you. (Please note that because of the nature of this topic, some of the content may be upsetting)

Diamonds: A Girls Best Friend?

"Our diamonds are non-conflict" the slightly annoyed sales woman assured me with unjustified confidence. I wish I could have believed her. Ignorance is bliss. The fact is the cost of diamonds goes beyond their price tags. The ring on your finger was not created in the back room of a Kay Jewelers, it has a tale. And its story may not be as bright and shiny as the adorned woman who sold it to you believes.

Diamonds have been a source of desire for centuries. These gems have graced history's most famous figures and now our most talked about celebrities. There are movies about diamonds, songs about diamonds; they even have their own coined phases. People just love diamonds. Our love borders on greed, and greed most often times disregards the well being of others. Our hunger for diamonds is no exception. On the other side of shining magazine ads and paparazzi snapped photos capturing Maria Carry's latest sparkler is a very dark world.

Sierra Leone, Africa (you know, the continent we like to pretend doesn't exist) is home to some of the best natural diamonds in the world. Their size, color and clarity are top of the line, but despite that, Sierra Leone is one of the world’s poorest nations. Instead of bringing prosperity, their diamonds funded a brutal civil war. Between 1991 and 2001 an anti-government rebel group called The Revolutionary United Front (RUF) wreaked havoc on the land. Half of the country's population of 4.5 million was displaced and over 75,000 men, woman, and children lost their lives. The horrors of the war are not found in the death toll alone, but the RUF's trade mark: mutilation. Amputee Ibrahim Fofana shares his horrendous ordeal:

I yelled and screamed, the rebels were laughing at me. They told me to stretch my arms out, but I said that was not going to happen. They used their guns and hit me all over my body and that weakened me. This hand, they laid it out on the mortar and chopped it off. They laid the other one out and chopped it off too.

As unimaginable as this is, over 10,000 Sierra Leoneans shared Ibrahim’s pain, most losing at least one hand or an entire arm; some lost both arms. The RUF told their victims this was punishment for voting. Women and children were targeted as well, but they faced additional fates. Husbands were forced to watch while their wives were brutally gang raped, and children were kidnapped and turned into killers and sex slaves. Lovette Freeman was just 14 years old when she was abducted by the RUF. "They took me away and I was sexually abused" she recalls. "They gave me a gun...I did what they wanted me to do because if I refused, they would threaten me with a knife. I did bad things..." She goes on to detail a group mission where she held a woman at gun point, entered her home and took the woman's baby. "She (the baby) later died, and I felt very sorry for that baby," says the remorseful but partly desensitized teen. Lovette was just one of nearly 20,000 boys and girls, mostly between the ages of 8 and 15, who were turned into child soldiers. The children were drugged and brainwashed. Under the influence of cocaine and cheap liquor they were told their country had betrayed them, their parents had betrayed them. They were made into killing machines.  

While the civil war in Sierra Leone raged, its diamonds flowed freely into the market, and that was the sole funding for the RUF. In fact, arms dealers would go there and trade weapons for diamonds directly. These "blood diamonds" accounted for about 14-15 percent or more of the market in the 90's, and those diamonds are still being worn today. "Diamonds, in fact, have fueled Sierra Leone’s conflict, destabilizing the country for the better part of three decades, stealing its patrimony and robbing an entire generation of children, putting the country dead last on the UNDP Human Development Index." says Partnership Africa-Canada (PAC), an independent group that has been a leading voice against blood diamonds for years.

Sierra Leone is not the only country whose turmoil was fueled by diamonds. Many countries shared similar experiences, each having its own sad tale. Angola had been in back to back civil wars since 1961; a rebel group called UNITA had a strong hold on the country which lasted into 2002. It wasn’t until 1998 that the world became aware of conflict or “blood” diamonds when humanitarian watch-dog Global Witness brought it to our attention. The small London based organization published a report about the role diamonds played in the war in Angola. We learned that our purchase of diamonds was more or less directly funding UNITA, resulting in severe pain and suffering of the nation. This is an excerpt of the document from 1998.

The war cost the lives of at least 500,000 Angolans, with thousands more maimed due to land mines - a continuing blight for the population. Since 1992, UNITA have consistently controlled 60-70% of Angola’s diamond production, generating US$ 3.7 billion in revenue, enabling them to maintain their war effort. UNITA’s diamonds reach the major international markets through a worldwide diamond industry that operates with little transparency or scrutiny from the international community

May 2000, in response to the growing awareness and pressure spurred by Global Witness’ report, diamond producing and trading countries, the World Diamond Council, and other organizations such as Global Witness met in Kimberly, South Africa, to discuss ways to prevent the trade of conflict diamonds. In 2003, after three years of negotiations, the Kimberly Process Certification Scheme (KPCS) was implemented. The Kimberly Process was designed to keep blood diamonds off the market by certifying countries that meet the minimum requirements. A country cannot be certified if it is deemed (by the KPCS) to be in “conflict”. There are currently over 75 participating countries.

So, blood diamonds aren't a problem anymore, right? Wrong. While the Kimberly Process was created with good intentions, it has some major flaws. First of all, all decisions must be “unanimous”, which means it takes a very long time to accomplish anything. Second, it is "self-regulated". And who makes up the majority of the KPCS board again? The countries that "import and export" diamonds AND the World Diamond Council...basically we have the fox guarding the hen house. Please keep in mind that the diamond industry is built on lies to begin with. Diamonds are not rare, their worth is completely artificial. The markup you pay at the jewelry store is right up there with movie theatre popcorn. In the 1940's diamond giant De Beers launched a brilliant ad campaign "a diamond is forever" (you may have heard of it). In fact, it was named best advertising slogan of the twentieth century by Advertising Age in 2000. "We have an idea that diamonds are rare, but they're not. What created the value in diamonds is with-holding the supply, making sure that the supply is regulated and there's never a flood of diamonds on the market..." says Ian Smillie, research coordinator for PAC, speaking about De Beers' control (or basically monopoly) on the industry.

In 2002 De Beers’ director of public and corporate affairs, Rory O'Ferral, spoke of the self-regulatory measures to be implemented in the Kimberly Process. O'Ferral called it an "equitable and transparent form of self-regulation that will not only provide assurance amongst ourselves (like they care) on the origin and legitimacy of rough diamond supplies, but will most importantly both protect and significantly increase consumers' confidence that the diamonds they buy as symbols of love and eternity are not tainted in any way." Okay, so we, as gullible consumers, have nothing to worry about. The hens are safe with the fox! Apparently I'm not the only who sees a problem with this. According to a recent report from PAC, "Transparency has never been a long suit in the Kimberley Process. Most of the statistics it gathers are unavailable to the public, and reports of review visits (which apparently are few and far between) to participating countries are sanitized into brief summaries for the KP’s public website." Even World Diamond Council member and reporter Chaim Even-Zohar has started to criticize the Kimberly Process and the direction it is going.

Though the very existence of the KPCS has rightfully been heralded as a magnificent achievement, it is slowly degenerating into an anti-democratic, non-accountable and non-transparent mechanism. …The KPCS should fight the causes of atrocities and the causes of widespread smuggling; it should fight corruption and abuse within the rough diamond global management. Instead, the KPCS is fighting “leaks,” disclosures, the press and NGOs (non-government organizations), which are basically the system’s strongest allies.

Recently the KP has been under scrutiny for their actions (or lack thereof) regarding Zimbabwe. In February of 2009 Human Rights Watch took the time to conduct over 100 face to face interviews with local miners, soldiers, local community leaders, victims and relatives, medical staff, and many other people with personal knowledge regarding the situation in Mutare, and Marange district in eastern Zimbabwe. (Unlike KP teams that go down to shake hands with government leaders, and ask if everything is okay.) They released a 62- page report on the inhumane conditions in Zimbabwe: “…the police and army have used brutal force to control access to the diamond fields and to take over unlicensed diamond mining and trading. Some income from the fields has been funneled to high-level party members of ZANU-PF ('president' Mugabe's pit-bulls), which is now part of a power-sharing government that urgently needs revenue as the country faces a dire economic crisis.” It sounds serious to me, but in March, on the heels of that report the KP released their own report expressing “growing concerns”. They put their foot down and “recommended” KP participants to “implement enhanced vigilance measures…” they also used strong words like “advised”. The KP’s dilemma at the time was whether or not doing the right thing by not condoning Zimbabwe’s bad behavior would make things worse: “Could suspending Zimbabwe from KP bring their situation to halt? Will suspension bring an end to the illegal activities…or worsen them? If Zimbabwe is suspended as per the NGO’s (those pesky humanitarians!), it will only help exacerbate the problems in Zimbabwe continue and these diamonds would keep penetrating the legitimate trade. (basically admitting that anything they do will be ineffective anyway?)” I think they just don’t want to piss off Mugabe, but who would?

The diamonds coming from the Marange area of Zimbabwe are most certainly, by any definition, "blood diamonds". They are actually not certified at the moment, but that does not mean they aren't reaching the market. "Zimbabwean diamonds are no longer “clean”. They bear the blood of Zimbabweans, shot down by their own government. They are produced from mines that benefit political and military gangsters, and they are smuggled out of the country by the bucketload." PAC states in a 16-page report complete with Zimbabwe's export charts, which do not 'ad up'. Once the Marange goods reach a KP member country (or another area of Zimbabwe for that matter) they get certified as "clean" and off they go! How would you explain countries that export diamonds but do not mine them? Hello? All of the sudden, countries like Uganda, Gambia, Rwanda, Zambia, and others are collectively exporting hundreds of millions of dollars worth of rough diamonds annually, but not one of them actually mines diamonds itself!? Yet, those countries will be allowed to join "without a review — simply by notifying the Kimberley Process Chair that they are 'willing and able' to fulfill the requirements of the scheme?" questions Ian Smillie, KP board member at the time who later resigned due to much frustration.

I think we can agree now, that there is no way of truly knowing the origins of a diamond. And when it's not Zimbabwe, it will be another country. Not to mention the fact that even the conditions from KP certified mines make them a place you don’t want to be. Or that 92% of diamonds are being cut in India, and who knows how those workers are being treated! So when a jewelry store tells you their diamonds are “non-conflict”, the truth is they really don’t know. There are alternatives though. First, while they may not match with all your outfits, there are many, many other truly breathtaking gems that come in an array of colors. For a sentimental engagement ring you can pick the gemstone of your anniversary month, or a combination of your birthdays. Choosing something dynamic like Fire Topaz is a fabulous also alternative and it shows that you are brave enough to break the engagement ring stereotype. But if just insist on owning a diamond, there are options for you too. Today, diamonds can be created in a lab. Man-made diamonds have all the same brilliant qualities of mined diamonds and none of the guilt. (Some companies will even create diamonds from a loved one’s ashes, if that sort of thing appeals to you.) Then there is always Grandma’s diamonds, and while I can almost guarantee that those gems were conflict, it’s most important that you are not further supporting the industry. Now, if you already have a diamond, I’m not suggesting you flush it down the toilet. In fact, I have a dazzling diamond engagement ring that I received while still happily in the dark about “blood diamonds”.

In fact, it was just months after getting engaged that I watched the movie “Blood Diamond” starring Leonardo DiCaprio. I remember sitting there on the couch when the movie was over, staring at my ring, wondering how this representation of our love could have come from so much pain. First I wanted to throw my ring out the window, but I couldn’t bring myself to do that. Then I thought of just putting it away, but I couldn’t bring myself to do that either. I finally just decided to wear it on a different finger and vow to not support the industry again (searching for a wedding ring was challenging). This turned out to be a surprisingly great opportunity to share my conviction. I often get compliments on the ring, or I am asked why it's on the “wrong” finger. The inquirer is usually a girl hoping for her boyfriend to “pop the question”, and many had never heard of blood diamonds. So I urge them, just as I do you, to reconsider the real cost of that diamond at the jewelry store. When the world wanted to put an end to the poaching of elephants, we had to stop buying ivory. Currently, Americans spend roughly 33.7 BILLION dollars a year on diamond jewelry. But I really do believe increased awareness makes a difference. That’s what created the Kimberly Process to begin with. By not giving the diamond industry our business, we tell them that we will NOT buy diamonds until we can be assured that they are not only “clean” but the people who mine them are treated fairly. The diamond industry is strongly represented on the KP board. It’s time to make them step up to the plate and implement the necessary changes. It’s our world, and it’s in our hands.