We don’t want Blood-diamonds

blod diamant

I get so many questions about blood diamonds and I will try to answer most of them here.

First and foremost, I want to underline that no one in the diamond industry wants to have anything to do with blood diamonds, and we are doing everything possible to keep blood diamonds off the market.

What are blood diamonds?

Blood diamonds are the term used for diamonds mined in a war zone and sold with the purpose of financing invading army’s war forces or warlord’s activity. The term blood-diamond is used to highlight the negative consequences of the diamond trade in certain areas but also to label a diamond as having come from such an area.

Where are blood diamonds from?

Blood diamonds have funded brutal wars in countries such as Angola, the Central African Republic (CAR), the Democratic Republic of Congo, Liberia and Sierra Leone. They have resulted in the deaths and displacement of millions of people, hence the name.

What does the diamond industry do to avoid selling or buying blood-diamonds?

A process termed ’Kimberly’ came into action in 2000 as a result of a meeting in Kimberly, South Africa, when the worlds’ major diamond producers and buyers met to discuss the growing concerns about the sale of rough and uncut diamonds to fund brutal civil wars, especially in Angola and Sierre Leone,

The Kimberly process was established as a system of diamond “passports” issued from the country of origin which should accompany every shipment of rough diamonds around the world. If a country cannot prove that its’ diamonds are conflict-free, it would be suspended from the international diamond trade.

As a result, only 5% of the world’s diamonds are traded illegally now, compared to 25% in 2003. But it is still too many, and we need to do better.

Should we just stop buying natural diamonds and buy lab-grown diamonds instead?

Certainly no, as there are millions of people living from the diamonds they can find. In some African countries, it is the only way people can make a living, and if we stop buying diamonds, we stop funding their livelihood. A very good example of this is that the government in Botswana owns 50% of all diamond mines together with the mining companies, and they ensure that at least 50% of the profits from the diamonds are given back to the people of Botswana to build houses, hospitals, streets, and as they say in Botswana, for every diamond found we get a better life.

And we can do more, and we are doing more.

We can ask questions; and make sure that the diamonds are mined ethical.

We want to know about the environmental impact and labor practices and importantly we want to know that the communities have benefited from the diamonds they are mining.

What we must do is make the correct choice and only buy diamonds from reputable companies, with high ethics, which is exactly what I strive to do. I buy the diamonds I set in my jewellery from bigger companies, who own mines and cutting facilities, and therefore knows exactly where the diamonds come from.

I would never buy a diamond from a dealer with a few strange diamonds, at a very low price, because there is always a catch.

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