Conflict Diamonds

PostBy Avi Paz Group At 01.09.2010

In recent years, the issue of conflict diamonds or "blood diamonds" has garnered a great deal of media attention and become a hot-button issue for the diamond industry.

Conflict diamonds are stones mined in a region at war whose trade directly or indirectly supports armed conflict in diamond-producing nations, mostly in central and west Africa. In Angola, which was ravaged by civil war from 1974 until 2001, the UNITA rebel faction sold diamonds to support its war against the government. Liberia was also engulfed in a civil war from 1989 until 2001, and in 2000 former Liberian president Charles Taylor was accused by the UN of accepting diamonds in exchange for providing weapons and training for Sierra Leone's RUF insurgency. As of September 2010, Taylor's trial for war crimes was ongoing, and Liberia had become a member of the Kimberley Process.

The Ivory Coast began mining its own diamonds in the early 1990s as well as serving as an export route for diamonds from Sierra Leone and Liberia. In 1999, a coup overthrew the Ivorian government, sparking civil war. In an attempt to stop the trade in conflict diamonds, the Ivory Coast put a halt to diamond mining, and in 2005 the UN banned the country from exporting any diamonds. Nevertheless, watchdog organizations report that trade in conflict diamonds continues.
A series of civil wars have also plagued the Democratic Republic of Congo, but the DRC has joined the Kimberley Process and its diamond exports now account for approximately 8% of the world's total.

In Zimbabwe, despite widespread reports of and investigations into human rights violations at the country's diamond fields, the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme has not officially designated Zimbabwe stones "conflict diamonds." Until September 2010, an international embargo kept Zimbabwe from exporting any of its diamonds; following an inspection by KP monitors the embargo was partially lifted and the government was allowed to sell a small quantity of diamonds abroad, provided it allowed close, continued monitoring of the human rights situation in the Marange and Chiadzwa diamond fields.

While most diamond traders have taken a firm stand against dealing in conflict diamonds, some watchdog groups claim that the problem has yet to be solved and are calling for reforms to the Kimberley Process oversight scheme as well as increased third-party supervision of the diamond trade.