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What is a Conflict Diamond?
Conflict diamonds (also referred to as Blood Diamonds or a War Diamond) are diamonds that are mined in a war torn country. These diamonds are than illegally traded to fund or finance ongoing fighting between insurgents or armies. The United Nations (UN) defines conflict diamonds as ‘…diamonds that originate from areas controlled by forces or factions opposed to legitimate and internationally recognized governments, and are used to fund military action in opposition to those governments, or in contravention of the decisions of the Security Council’.
The history of these Blood or Conflict diamonds came to the attention of the world in the late 1990’s during a violently brutal civil war in Sierra Leone. Today, United Nations sanctions are still in effect against Liberia, The Republic of Congo, and The Ivory Coast.
How does the diamond industry ensure that diamonds are Conflict Free?
Currently, less than 1% of the world’s diamonds are Conflict diamonds. This is down from 4% in the late 1990’s. Even so, the diamond industry has a zero tolerance policy towards Conflict Diamonds.
In December 2000, the General Assembly of the United Nations passed a resolution to deal with the Conflict diamond issues. In November 2002, the Kimberly Process was created and involved nations in the trade of diamonds, diamond-mining and production companies, such as De Beers and the World Diamond Council. The Kimberly Process requires participating nations follow strict guidelines to insure that Conflict Diamonds do not enter the mainstream diamond market. For example, rough diamonds are transported in sealed, tamper resistant containers. They also have forgery resistant certificates that declare them conflict free and each certificate has a unique serial number each time they cross an international border.
In addition to the Kimberly Process, the diamond industry regulates itself by providing evidence to all purchasers in the trade that diamonds are from Conflict Free sources.
Alpha policy about Blood & Conflict Diamonds:
Alpha Imports has written policies between us and our suppliers that our diamonds are Conflict Free. |
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