Diamonds

Diamonds are little pieces of carbon that have been formed deep within the earth, under extreme pressure, billions of years ago. Only a small number have survived the journey to the surface; fewer still are of a quality that can be made into jewelry.

Once mined, rough diamonds are delivered to sorting experts who categorize and assign a value to them. Diamonds for jewelry are classified into thousands of categories based on size, shape, quality and color.After sorting, the diamonds are cut and polished.

The majority of today's diamonds are sourced from Africa, Canada, Russia, Australia and South America. Main African diamond producers countries include: Botswana, Angola, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo,Namibia, Tanzania, Sierra Leone and South Africa. Approximately $8.4 billion worth of diamonds a year come from African countries . That is more or less 65% of the world's diamonds.

Fatal Diamond extraction:
‘Conflict diamonds' or, ‘Blood Diamonds', are defined by the United Nations as ‘rough diamonds used by rebel movements to finance their military activities'.
Conflict diamonds mainly originated from Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) Sierra Leone and Ivory Coast. Warlords in these countries turned diamonds into money or weapons that allowed them to continue to fight.
Today, peace agreements have been signed in most of these countries. Rebel forces no longer control diamond areas in those countries. That means most of the words diamonds are now ‘conflict free'. However, ‘Conflict free', does not mean ‘Fair'.

Diamonds do not contribute to development and reconstruction. Corrupt governments use diamond revenues for their own benefits. Especially in the informal diamonds sector, human rights violations are rampant. Child labour is widespread, as is the abuse of women. Informal diggers trying to make a living are being shot by private security forces defending the interests of large corporations and members of the political elite.

From Fatal to Fair:
International campaigns against Blood Diamonds have paved the road for an international agreement to ban trade in conflict diamonds with a certification scheme. This agreement is called the Kimberley Process. Rough diamonds can now only cross the border with an official certificate. On this certificate is stated where the diamonds come from and it has to be provided by a legitimate government. Today 71 governments of diamond exporting and importing countries have enshrined into their national law the Kimberley Process Certification System. It is estimated that 99% of the world's diamonds are from ‘conflict free' sources.

Fatal Transactions will stay a critical watchdog of the scheme, to make sure it lives up to its promises, and strengthens its flaws. However, it is not enough. Conflict diamonds need to be extended to include human rights violations. No rights of any person should be violated for a piece of jewelry. Only if that can be guaranteed, we can truly say that a diamond is ‘clean'.