The Blood Diamond Trade
Conflict diamonds is a topic that most people in and outside the diamond industry do not want to talk about. It, for all intents and purposes, is considered taboo. With new laws imposing stricter rules on the importation of diamonds coming from Africa nowadays, consumers in the United States can confidently buy diamonds knowing that they are not instruments for conflicts on foreign shores. But before the impositions and mandates by the United States and the United Nations Kimberley certificates were made, conflict diamonds flooded the open market and people at the end of the trail were ignorant of the consequences of their spending. One didn’t know that a loose diamond bought in Tulsa or New York, or anywhere else for that matter, was equivalent to AK-47s and mortar shells for the revolutionary movement in Africa back in the day. And though 99% of the world’s diamonds are already considered legitimate, it is still important for consumers to know the troubled past of the diamond industry.
Before one understands how innocent consumers across the Atlantic once contributed to fuel civil wars, one should understand the nature of diamonds in the global market. Diamonds have long been expensive both rough and cut, and even to this day, buying a diamond ring would cost the average American around a month or two’s salary. Some diamonds even cost more than that. So one would easily come to a conclusion that if one were to sell a diamond, one would have the funds necessary to get what he or she wants. In the case of the African nations, it was control over the land, control over the people, and control over its resources.
During the late 80s to early 2000s, numerous factions spread throughout different African nations became locked in a power struggle to take control of the land and its people. Generally, Central and West Africa are diamond-rich areas. And it didn’t take long before people started exploiting this resource and later on, they used it for illegal purposes, particularly conflicts. One faction, the Revolutionary United Front or RUF, began their crusade under the guise of justice and democracy but later began taking over the diamond mines and monopolizing the diamond trade through violence and fear. They then smuggled these diamonds over to other countries like Liberia where it got sold to various middlemen before it got shipped for segregation. The dirty diamonds were mixed with the clean ones and it got sold like any other diamonds in the open market. The funds they attained were then used to fund a cause that left thousands of men, women, and children dead. Their methods were so gruesome to that some accounts even state that the RUF slaughtered entire villages and kidnapped children as new recruits, deeming them children of the revolution.
It was not until a series of investigations and reports were made that the United Nations made the move to monitor the diamond industry and restrict the flow of blood diamonds from entering the market. Global Witness, an NGO involved in the investigation of natural resource exploitation, is one important faction involved in identifying the connection between the diamond trade in Africa and civil war. Along with the implementation of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1173 (a move to implement sanctions on Angola for diamond exploitation), conflict diamonds were put on the spotlight. This eventually resulted in the Kimberly certification scheme. This declaration mandated countries, especially in Africa, to provide an authentication certificate and seal for all diamonds produced in their country. The initiative did not last long, as it was easy to bribe officials into providing Kimberly certificates despite the fact that the diamonds being exported were blood diamonds.
Though the movement was a failed attempt, it prompted the United States and Canada to put strict implementations on rough diamonds arriving on their shores. Bill Clinton issued executive order Executive Order 13194 restricting the flow of rough diamonds coming from Sierra Leone. George W. Bush implemented the clean diamond trade act, which also prohibited the importation of diamonds from Liberia regardless of whether or not diamonds actually came from the country. That’s why American consumers do not have to concern themselves with funding conflicts in Africa if they opt to, let’s say, buy loose diamonds in places like Tulsa and the like.
More and more innovations are being made to cut the flow of blood diamonds entering the market. Organizations throughout the world are gearing towards technological advances in an attempt to identify and trace conflict diamonds. and for the consumer on the other end of the chain, these continued initiatives see to it that the next time they buy loose diamonds in their preferred Tulsa shop, they won’t have to worry about buying a diamond ring that was at one point (and maybe even still) equivalent to an African man’s arm.
