100 THINGS// Research And Collect. Conflict Diamonds

First thing I researched to kick this off was  '100 Facts'. My initial aim was to provide facts but as time went on this part of the collection moved more towards '100 Points to understand the basics of conflict diamonds'

100 FACTS

1) What are conflict diamonds?

Conflict, or blood diamonds are mined in a war zone and sold, usually clandestinely, in order to finance an insurgent or invading army's war efforts.

2) How can I ensure a diamond is conflict-free?

The Kimberley Process is a joint government, international diamond industry and civil society initiative established in 2002 to stem the flow of conflict diamonds - rough diamonds that are used by rebel movements to finance wars against legitimate governments. The trade in these illicit stones has contributed to devastating conflicts in countries such as Angola, Cote d'Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Sierra Leone.

3) The diamond industry estimates that conflict diamonds represent 4 percent of the total trade in rough diamonds. Others have estimated that conflict diamonds could amount to as high as 15 percent of the total trade.

4) In 2001, the diamond industry produced rough diamonds with a market value of $7.9 billion. At the end of the diamond chain, this was converted into jewelry worth $54.1 billion.

5) What areas of the world are affected by conflict diamonds?

The fighting that is fuelled by the trade in conflict diamonds has been relegated to a few Central and West African countries. Many of these countries have diamonds that are easier to mine and thus more readily available to smuggle, according to the Kimberly Process.

6) Since its establishment in 2000, the World Diamond Council (WDC) has transformed the jewelry and diamond industries, both in terms of how they perceive their responsibility toward their stakeholders and society in general, and in the way diamonds are bought and sold.

7) The origins of the WDC date back to the late 1990s, when civil war was raging in several African countries and rough diamonds were being used to finance the guerilla campaigns of rebel forces. With human rights activists and legislators in different countries questioning the impact of diamond sales, the WDC was established in July 2000 by a resolution passed at the World Diamond Congress in Antwerp, Belgium, by the World Federation of Diamond Bourses and the International Diamond Manufacturers Association.

8) Eli Izhakoff, a veteran industry leader, was elected as WDC chairman and he immediately set about a creating a broad coalition of key participants from the diamond and jewelry industries, bringing into the new body representatives of national and international industry organizations, major jewellery manufacturers and retailers, mining companies, gem labs and bank representatives.

9) In September 2000, WDC's first formal meeting was held in Tel Aviv, Israel. There, committee members and chairpersons were named, who later would guide the WDC through all areas of activity in the coming years. While Mr. Izhakoff himself headed the WDC's Steering Committee, the other panels concentrated on a range of issues, including: Technical, Finance, Banking, United States Legislative, Legal, Information and Research, Producers,   

10) International Government and United Nations Liaison, Membership and Government Observers.

11) Developing a close relationship with the civil society groups involved in the conflict diamonds issue, the WDC lobbied both governments and the United Nations to create a system that would prevent diamonds from conflict areas from entering the legitimate trade. On December 1, 2001, the UN General Assembly unanimously approved a commitment to a certification scheme that would eliminate conflict diamonds and institute sanctions against transgressors. It was the industry that had provided the blueprint for the certification system.

12) Later the U.S. Congress passed the Clean Diamonds Trade Act by an overwhelming majority, and similar legislation was passed in every country that ultimately joined the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme, which formally launched on January 1, 2003.

13) As a non-government body, WDC is an observer in the Kimberley Process forum, but that has not prevented it from playing an absolutely critical role in its activities and deliberations. This included the creation of the “peer review” system, which ensures the credibility of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme. In the years since it was created in 2003, WDC has participated in large number of review visits to KP member countries.

14) In mid-2004 the critical importance of the peer review system was seen when the KP expelled the Congo Republic (Congo-Brazzaville). In 2006, it also acted to prevent diamonds being smuggled out of the Ivory Coast to neighboring Ghana where they were being sold with KP certificates.

15) In 2006, the WDC was also at the forefront of a media campaign, launched in response to the imminent release of the Edward Zwick’s Blood Diamond movie, with the creation of DiamondFacts.org, a web site providing information about the history of the diamond trade, the social and economic benefits diamonds provide to countries in which they are mined, and how the industry is tackling issues such as conflict diamonds.

16) In 2009, the WDC once again showed the vital role it plays in drawing attention to critical diamond-related issues when Mr Izhakoff's address to the KP's Plenary Meeting in Namibia proposed changes to create a more efficient decision-making process and improved resources, reiterating proposals it had made in 2007.

17) WDC also played a key role in search for a solution to the controversy surrounding Zimbabwe and diamonds mined in the Marange region. It was at the WDC's 7th Annual Meeting in July 2010 that a breakthrough was reached in talks between Zimbabwe and the Kimberley Process, in which the African state agreed to hold two supervised exports of diamonds from Marange, following review visits in August and September that same year.

18) An estimated 5 million people have access to appropriate healthcare thanks to revenues from diamonds

19) Conflict diamonds have been reduced from approximately 4% to considerably less that 1% since the implementation of the Kimberly Process in 2003.

20) An estimated 10 million people globally are directly or indirectly supported by the diamond industry.

21) The diamond mining industry generates of 40% of Namibia's annual export earnings.

22) Diamond revenues enable every child in Botswana to receive free education up to the age 13.

23) In July 2000, the global diamond industry announced its zero-tolerance policy towards conflict diamonds and continued to drive this policy.

24) Sierra Leone is now at peace and exports approximately $142 million in diamonds per year.

25) Over one million people are employed by the diamond industry in India.

26) 8.4 billion dollars worth of diamonds a year come from African countries.

27) The revenue from diamonds is instrumental in the fight against the HIV/AIDS pandemic.

28) Diamonds account for 33% of the GDP (approximately $3 billion of Botswana.  Since diamonds were discovered in Botswana, GDP annual growth rate has averaged 7%.

29) Major world leaders including Nelson Mandela have sited the importance  of diamonds to the lives of African people.

30) It is estimated that one million people work in the informal alluvial mining sector.

31) Some diamond producing countries are not Kimberley Process compliant.

32) 2/3rds of the world diamonds are extracted in Africa.

33) Angola. Angola, a colony of Portugal, gained independence on November 11, 1975.

34) (angola)   Although independent, the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), and the National Liberation Front of Angola (FNLA) fought in a civil war from 1974 to 2001.

35) (angola) Between 1992 and 1998, in violation of the 1991 Bicesse Accords, UNITA sold diamonds, valued at US$3.72 billion, to finance its war with the government.

36) (angola) The UN recognized the role that diamonds played in funding the UNITA rebels and in 1998 passed United Nations Security Council Resolution 1173 and United Nations Security Council Resolution 1176, banning the purchase of conflict diamonds from Angola.

37) (angola) Resolution 1173 was the first resolution by the UN which specifically mentioned diamonds in the context of funding a war. Reports estimated that as much as 20% of the total production in the 1980s was being sold for illegal purposes and 19% was specifically conflict in nature.

38) (angola)  By 1999, the illegal diamond trade in Angola was estimated by the World Diamond Council to have been reduced to 3.06% of the world's diamond production. The World Diamond Council reported that by 2004 this percentage had fallen to approximately 1%.

40) (angola)  Despite the UN Resolution, UNITA was able to continue to sell or barter some diamonds in order to finance its war effort. The UN set out to find how this remaining illicit trade was being conducted and appointed Canadian ambassador Robert Fowler to investigate. In 2000, he produced the Fowler Report, which named those countries, organizations and individuals involved in the trade. The report is credited with establishing the link between diamonds and third world conflicts, and led directly to United Nations Security Council Resolution 1295, as well as the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme.

41) (Liberia and Sierra Leone). From 1989 to 2003, Liberia was engaged in a civil war.

42)  (Liberia and Sierra Leone) In 2000, the UN accused Liberian president Charles G. Taylor of supporting the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) insurgency in neighboring Sierra Leone with weapons and training in exchange for diamonds.

43) (Liberia and Sierra Leone) In 2001, the UN applied sanctions on the Liberian diamond trade. In August 2003, Taylor stepped down as president and, after being exiled to Nigeria, faced trial in The Hague. On July 21, 2006 he pleaded not guilty to crimes against humanity and war crimes.

44) (Liberia and Sierra Leone) Around the time of the 1998 United States embassy bombings, al-Qaeda allegedly bought gems from Liberia as some of its other financial assets were frozen.

45) (Liberia and Sierra Leone) Having regained peace, Liberia is attempting to construct a legitimate diamond mining industry. The UN has lifted sanctions and Liberia is now a member of the Kimberley Process.

46) (Côte d'Ivoire). Côte d'Ivoire (also known as the Ivory Coast) began to develop a fledgling diamond mining industry in the early 1990s.

47) (Côte d'Ivoire) A coup overthrew the government in 1999, starting a civil war. The country became a route for exporting diamonds from Liberia and war-torn Sierra Leone.

48) (Côte d'Ivoire) Foreign investment began to withdraw from the Ivory Coast. To curtail the illegal trade, the nation stopped all diamond mining and the UN Security Council banned all exports of diamonds from Côte d'Ivoire in December 2005.

49) (Côte d'Ivoire) Despite UN sanctions, however, the illicit diamond trade still exists in Côte d'Ivoire. Rough diamonds are exported out of the country to neighboring states and international trading centers through the northern, Forces Nouvelles controlled section of the country, a group which is reported to be using these funds to re-arm.

50) (DRC). The Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly Zaire) has suffered numerous civil wars in the 1990s, but has become a member of the Kimberley Process and now exports about 8% of the world's diamonds.

51) (DRC).  One of De Beers' most celebrated and priceless diamonds, the flawless D-colour 200 carats (40 g) Millennium Star was discovered in the DRC and sold to De Beers during the height of the Civil War that took place in the early to mid-nineties.

52) (DRC). The Republic of Congo (Congo-Brazzaville) was expelled from the Kimberley Process in 2004  because, despite having no official diamond mining industry, the country was exporting large quantities of diamonds, the origin of which it could not detail. It was also accused of falsifying certificates of origin. The Republic of Congo was readmitted in 200^7.

53) (Zimbabwe). Zimbabwean diamonds are not considered conflict diamonds by the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme.

54) (Zimbabwe). In the past, the chaotic production at Marange and smuggling resulted in monitoring by the World Diamond Council. In July 2010, the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme agreed that diamonds from the country's disputed Marange Diamond Fields could be sold on the international market, after a report from the Scheme's monitor a month earlier described diamonds mined from the fields as conflict-free.

55)  On July 19, 2000, the World Diamond Congress adopted at Antwerp a resolution to strengthen the diamond industry's ability to block sales of conflict diamonds. The resolution called for an international certification system on the export and import of diamonds, legislation in all countries to accept only officially sealed packages of diamonds, for countries to impose criminal charges on anyone trafficking in conflict diamonds, and instituted a ban on any individual found trading in conflict diamonds from the diamond bourses of the World Federation of Diamond Bourses.

56) The Kimberley Process was led by the diamond-producing African countries themselves.

57) Also in tourist states like Dubai, before gemstone could be allowed through their airport to other countries, the Kimberley Certification must be presented by the gem's owner.

58) On January 17–18 of 2001, diamond industry figures convened and formed the new organization, the World Diamond Council. This new body set out to draft a new process, whereby all diamond rough could be certified as coming from a non-conflict source.

59) The KPCS was given approval by the UN on March 13, 2002, and in November, after two years of negotiation between governments, diamond producers, and Non-Government organizations, the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS.) was created.

60) The Kimberley Process attempted to curtail the flow of conflict diamonds, help stabilize fragile countries and support their development.

61) As the Kimberley Process has made life harder for criminals, it has brought large volumes of diamonds onto the legal market that would not otherwise have made it there. This has increased the revenues of poor governments, and helped them to address their countries’ development challenges. For instance, some $125 million worth of diamonds were legally exported from Sierra Leone in 2006, compared to almost none at the end of the 1990s

62) The Kimberley Process has ultimately failed to stem the flow of blood diamonds, leading key proponents such as Global Witness to abandon the scheme.

63) In addition to The Kimberly Process failing to curtail the flow of conflict diamonds throughout the world there is no guarantee that diamonds with a Kimberly Process Certification are in fact conflict free. This is due to the nature of the corrupt government officials in the leading diamond producing countries. It is common for these officials to be bribed with $50 to $100 U.S. dollars a day in exchange for paperwork declaring blood diamonds Kimberly Process Certified.

64) The Kimberley system attempted to increase governments' transparency by forcing them to keep records of the diamonds they are exporting and importing and how much they are worth. In theory, this would show governments their finances so that they can be held accountable for how much they are spending for the benefit of the country's population. However non-compliance by countries such as Venezuela has led to the failure of accountability.

65) The origins of the Kimberly Process were dramatized in Ed Zwick's 2006 motion picture Blood Diamond. The film helped to publicize the controversy surrounding conflict diamonds and led to worldwide awareness of the Western African involvement in the diamond trade.

66) The James Bond film Die Another Day uses conflict diamonds as a central plot point throughout the film.

67) The music video for the Kanye West song "Diamonds from Sierra Leone" from the album Late Registration is about the illicit conflict diamond trade. The song samples the theme from another Bond film, Diamonds Are Forever.

68) The video game Far Cry 2, set in an unnamed Central African country in the midst of civil war, uses diamonds as currency.

69) The book Diamonds in the Shadow by Caroline B. Cooney involves a refugee family smuggling blood diamonds into the United States from Africa.

70) In the Nicolas Cage film Lord of War, blood diamonds are used as currency to purchase firearms.

71) In 2011 Danish filmmaker Mads Brügger published the documentary Ambassadøren (aka 'The Ambassador') about the trade in diplomatic passports in order to make money with blood diamonds.

72) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juya0rp9ZOo

73) In June 2009, Ian Smillie of Canadian-based NGO, Partnership Africa Canada (PAC), and one of the founder members of the Kimberley Process resigned his position accusing the regulator of failing to regulate and saying he could no longer contribute to the "pretense that failure is success".
 

74) At the same time, another founder member of the process, UK-based NGO Global Witness said, "Despite having all tools in place, the Scheme was failing effectively to address issues of non-compliance, smuggling, money laundering and human rights abuses in the world's... diamond fields".

75) In August 2010, another key draftsman of the KP and Africa’s highest-ranking diamond official, African Diamond Council (ADC) and ADPA chairman Dr. André A. Jackson demoralized KP supporters after persuading African diamond producing nations to renounce their support for scheme. Jackson brazenly blasted the KP for its ongoing ineffectiveness, stating that “the System has failed to thwart trading of diamonds mined as a result of human suffering.”

76) Ahead of this denunciation, the ADC unleashed a distressing TV infomercial that exposed internal problems at the front end of the African diamond industry. The broadcast was not only a huge boost for the ADC, it proved to be an enormous setback for the Kimberley Process and ultimately led to a cessation of DeBeers’s ascendancy on the African continent.

77) In December 2010 Time Magazine published a piece discussing the newly founded rough diamond trade in Zimbabwe. The article questioned the legitimacy of the Kimberley Process, stating that it was unable to prevent Zimbabwean conflict diamonds from entering the market.

78) The certification scheme lost a large amount of its integrity following Global Witness’ announcement to walk out on KP in December 2011. The human rights watchdog group stated that in recent times, the governments of Zimbabwe, Côte d'Ivoire and Venezuela have all dishonored, breached and exploited the system without bearing any consequential penalties for their infringements.

79) Members of the African Diamonds Council:
- Republic of Angola
- Republic of Botswana
- Central African Republic
- Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast)
- Democratic Republic of Congo
- Republic of Ghana
- Republic of Guinea
- Kingdom of Lesotho
- The Republic of Liberia
- The Republic of Namibia
- Republic of Sierra Leone
- Republic of South Africa
- Kingdom of Swaziland
- United Republic of Tanzania
- Republic of Zimbabwe

80) During the past five years, substantial attention has been paid to the issue of “conflict” or “blood” diamonds. Diamonds from countries such as Sierra Leone, Angola, Liberia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have been used to fund combatants, both rebel and government, whose main targets are often civilians.

81) The civil wars during the 1990’s in Sierra Leone left 50,000 dead, and 500,000 died in Angola.

82) The violence in Angola escalated during a six-month period in 1993 in which 180,000 died.

83) Both government and rebel soldiers committed atrocities and used amputations as a way to coerce and terrorize the countryside.

84) Diamonds played a key role in obtaining funds to provide these combatants with food, clothing, transportation, and most significantly, weapons.

85) Finding buyers wasn’t particularly hard and rebel groups such as the RUF in Sierra Leone and UNITA in Angola obtained approximately $200 million per year from these sales.

86) Diamonds became a central issue for a number of reasons. First, rough diamonds (which are later polished into gemstones) represent an $8 billion dollar annual market.

87) Secondly, the trading centres into which these stones flow, such as Antwerp, Tel Aviv, and London, as well as major consumer markets such as the United States have relatively scarce supplies.

88) Thirdly, the diamonds in Sierra Leone are of very high quality (as opposed to industrial diamonds, which cannot be used for jewellery) and they are alluvial -- that is, they are found on the earth’s surface, usually in river beds, and are accessible to anyone with a few basic hand tools and skills. And with governments acting essentially as organized crime syndicates, these resources quickly became the property of whoever had the monopoly on violence at the time.

89) The conflict diamond issue first came to the public’s attention in 1998 when a small, London-based non-governmental organization (NGO) named Global Witness (see their press releases and reports) released a report titled A Rough Trade.

90) This report detailed the way in which Angolan rebels were smuggling diamonds into the international markets. The revenues generated during this wartime economy were in excess of $250 million/year.

91) Implicated in the report was the South African diamond cartel, De Beers, which at that point marketed approximately 80% of the world’s rough diamonds. This report placed significant pressure on the diamond industry, who feared that their product would attract the sort of negative publicity once associated with another luxury item, fur coats. 

92) Another NGO played a substantial role in bringing attention to the issue. Partnership Africa Canada, an organization which works on issues of human rights and security, released a report in 2000 titled the Heart of the Matter in which the brutal diamond economy of Sierra Leone was revealed. The UN Security Council soon took action and banned the import of rough diamonds from Sierra Leone (Resolution 1306). Again, these sanctions seem to have done little, but fighting did cease in 2001.

93) Sierra Leone is currently home to 17,000 UN peacekeepers, the largest such force in the world.

94) Other NGO’s have also been able to affect policy, including Oxfam America, Global Policy Forum, and Amnesty International. Additionally, organizations such as the International Crisis Group have issued lengthy reports on countries at war, including Angola and Sierra Leone.

95) At one point De Beers controlled 80% of the rough diamonds in the world. They currently control about 60%, as they now compete with other firms and have essentially stopped “managing supply” as of 2000.

96) A blood diamond, as defined by the United Nations, is a "diamond that originates from areas controlled by forces or factions opposed to legitimate and internationally recognized governments, and is used to fund military action in opposition to those governments, or in contravention of the decisions of the Security Council." In other words, a blood diamond is any diamond that is mined in a war zone. These diamonds are mined and sold in secret, with profits going to fund war efforts. Often, young children are forced into mining these diamonds. The diamonds are sold as legitimate, legal diamonds on the international market.

97) Blood diamonds have been trafficked in the war-torn countries of Angola, Sierra Leone, Cote d'Ivoire, Liberia, Congo and Zimbabwe. Illegal trade has also gained momentum outside Africa in countries such as Venezuela and Lebanon. Lebanon has no diamond deposits, yet it is exporting more diamonds than it imports.

98) It is thought that conflict diamonds might also fund al-Qa'ida.

99) This means cut conflict diamonds can possibly find their way into jewellery stores. The Kimberley Process falls short of implementing policies essential for regulating how diamonds find their way into retail stores.

100) When buying a diamond, ask your jeweller for an audit trail. An audit trail can tie a diamond to its location of mining, where it was cut and polished, and whether the diamond has an engraved serial number. When a diamond has an engraved serial number, the diamond becomes unique. An audit trail can help implement a system that keeps conflict diamonds from entering into a batch of clean diamonds