http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sasha-brookner/all-diamonds-out-of-afric_b_2628013.html
Sierra Leone, once the pulse of the trans-Atlantic slave trade, exports 500,000 carats of diamonds annually, worth an approximate
$78 billion dollars; yet is ranked one of the poorest countries globally by the World Development Report.
Gem enthusiasts, United Nations, Kimberley Process and the World Diamond Council would have you believe this financial inconsistency pandemic throughout abundantly mineralized countries -- including Zimbabwe, Botswana, Angola and the Democrat Republic of the Congo --
does not pose a "conflict" unless diamonds are being put on the market by African rebels, a favourite villain being Sierra Leone's
Revolutionary United Front (RUF) which was formed in 1991.
**Note that what the underlined part above is saying is that conflict diamonds are not considered conflict diamonds
unless they are put on the market by certain groups. If those diamonds happen to leave the country and are sold by other parties, well budda bing! Suddenly they're no longer blood diamonds!**
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http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-881410
The Kimberley Process is a voluntary system that places stringent guidelines on its participants, who account for 99.8% of the world?s diamond producer.? This document requires that diamonds be certified as conflict free before leaving the country. Countries that participate are only allowed to trade with each other.
Despite the efforts of the United Nations, Global Witness states, ?
The Kimberley Process does not prevent the trade of all conflict diamonds. The governments of some participant countries are corrupt. Furthermore, the Kimberley Process is not adequately funded, making it impossible to investigate suspected violations.?
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http://www.hrw.org/news/2010/05/21/exposing-blood-diamond-trade
The conditions we uncovered in Marange, together with the knowledge that so-called blood diamonds are a key source of revenue for Zimbabwe's abusive government, prompted Human Rights Watch to take on the global diamond trade...
...To date, we have held a series of successful outreach and education meetings with mining companies, distributors, and retailers.
Tiffany & Co. and Cartier are just the two most recent jewelers to publicly boycott blood diamonds from Zimbabwe.
**The question I would like answered is: Why did it take Human Rights Watch releasing the report for Tiffanys to boycott blood diamonds coming out of Zimbabwe. I don't beleive for a second they weren't aware of the conditions and I don't believe for a second that they care. I am convinced that their 'boycott' is for maketing purposes only and that they, along with the rest of the diamond industry, are still dealing in blood diamonds to this day. The 78 billion dollars worth of diamonds coming out of Sierra Leone alone have to go somewhere.**
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The entire diamond industry is built on a foundation of lies. It (the diamond industry) is the biggest long con in history, with the exception of religion. I saw a documentary some years ago, where they showed that blood diamonds are mixed in with 'clean' diamonds so that no one can tell the difference with regards to where they came from.
But imagine that - a corporation telling their target consumer whatever they need to, in order to allow said consumer to tell themselves whatever they have to, to placate their conscience, in order to keep them buying.