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Tuesday, 02 January 2007 13:39 |
| | Janese Johnson |
After watching the movie "Blood Diamond," I was compelled to learn more about the diamond trade.
The movie is set in Sierra Leone during its civil war from 1991 to 2000, during which rebel forces killed millions of people while smuggling diamonds across the border to Ghana to be sold out as legitimate diamonds to fund the militia.
These diamonds have been sold all over the world and are referred to as either "blood diamonds" or "conflict diamonds" because people have been killed or have lost their land for those diamonds.
Due
to the seriousness of the problem, several countries got together in
1998 and created what is called the "Kimberly process." The goal of the
Kimberly process is to show whether the diamonds are coming from a
legitimate source and are conflict free. It went into effect in 2003.
Today, records
show that the Kimberly process is not working and there are many
conflict diamonds that are still entering the market. A recent United
States Government Accountability Office report showed that blood
diamonds may be entering the U.S. because of major weaknesses in the
implementation of the Clean Diamond Trade Act, the U.S. law which
implements the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme.
The human rights
organization Amnesty International tells us, "Blood diamonds are not
just a problem of the past." A recent United Nations report highlighted
the fact that $23 million in conflict diamonds from the Ivory Coast are
being smuggled into diamond markets around the world and diamonds
continue to cause instability and violence in the Democratic Republic
of Congo.
Government
controls in the United States and in other countries are not strong
enough or enforced effectively enough to stop rebel groups from
exploiting diamonds to fuel conflict. The Taliban is one rebel group
that greatly benefits from the blood diamonds.
Recently a tribe
of Bushmen was kicked off their land in Botswana by the government,
with De Beers Diamond Company taking over the land. The reason the
government gave was the need to preserve wildlife. I highly doubt that
De Beers Diamonds is concerned about wildlife.
The great news
is that the Bushmen tribe was able to win its land back through an
appeal that they made in Variety magazine to the actors of the film
"Blood Diamond." They received a lot of support and were able to win
their case.
Since not all
diamonds are conflict diamonds there are ways to find out whether the
diamond that you are interested in is conflict free or not. Amnesty
International has a list of questions that they feel are important to
ask the sales clerk to be sure that the diamond that you are buying is
conflict free. The questions are as follows...Where do the diamonds
come from? Can I see a copy of your companyës policy on conflict
diamonds? Can you show me a written guarantee from your diamond
suppliers stating that your diamonds are conflict free?
After asking
these questions, and the clerk doesnët have any answers to these
questions, Amnesty International suggests going somewhere else that
does. It is also known that in the past Givens Diamonds Co. was
involved with conflict diamonds, and recently De Beers has been
involved with conflict diamonds.
Unfortunately it
is not only diamonds that help fund rebels and create havoc in
different countries, it is also known that gold has caused as much
suffering in Africa and also in South America as well. It is of my
belief that the more we know that this is going on, and the more that
we consciously and actively purchase these products, the less these
industries can continue the devastation that is happening in so many
lives.
So the next time
you buy diamonds or gold, please take a moment and ask the questions
that will make a humanitarian difference in someone elseës life. elseës
life.
ï
Janese Johnson
has been doing intuitive counseling nationally for more than 20 years.
She may be contacted at janesej-at-buncombe.main.nc.us.
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