The legitimate diamond trade provides jobs for over 10 million workers and brings prosperity to areas where this activity occurs. Support of the Kimberley Process by all nations and consumers can convert slavery into jobs and smuggling into respected commerce. The efforts are working. Today, almost all of the diamonds brought to retail markets come…

Nations who agree to participate in the Kimberley process are not permitted to trade with nonmember Nations. The Kimberley Process is believed to have significantly reduced the number of Conflict Diamonds that are reaching international gem markets. Today 81 governments and several non-government organizations abide by the Kimberley Process. The only two nations which remain…

The flow of Conflict Diamonds has originated mainly from Sierra Leone, Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo, Liberia, and Ivory Coast. The United Nations and other groups are working to block the entry of conflict diamonds into the worldwide diamond trade. Their approach has been to develop a government certification procedure known as the “Kimberley Process.” This procedure requires each…

Blood Diamonds, also known as “Conflict Diamonds,” are stones that are produced in areas controlled by rebel forces that are opposed to internationally recognized governments. The rebels sell these diamonds, and the money is used to purchase arms or to fund their military actions. Blood Diamonds are often produced through the forced labor of men,…

The movie Blood Diamond traces the path of a large pink diamond found in Sierra Leone in the 1990s by a fisherman working as a slave in a rebel-controlled diamond mine. That diamond changed and ended many lives, and the story of that stone carries a strong social message. The story is interesting fiction, but it is based upon facts. The…