Diamonds are used to fund armed conflicts

The release of Hollywood blockbuster Blood Diamond in Hong Kong is a timely reminder of the human rights abuses that occur where profits from the sale of diamonds are used to fund armed conflicts. An estimated 3.7 million people have died in Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Liberia, and Sierra Leone in conflicts fuelled by the unregulated trade in diamonds. The diamond industry was estimated to worth 7 billion US dollars, and it was estimated that 15% of that were blood diamonds.

 Fig.2 © Amnesty International, all rights reserved

 Kimberley Process
Pressured by NGOs and public, a “Kimberley Process” Certification Scheme was launched in 2003 with 71 governments joined today and with supports from the diamond industry. Governments joining the certification scheme are to introduce measures to prevent conflict diamonds from entering the legitimate trade. The industry claimed that after the implementation of the Kimberley Process, only 1% of the diamonds are from conflicts zone. However ….

  Fig.3 © AP, all rights reserved

Government controls are poorly enforced
In October 2006, a report of a UN Group of Experts on Cote d’Ivoire concluded that conflict diamonds from Cote D’Ivoire were infiltrating the legitimate diamond trade through Ghana. In many countries that have joined the Kimberley Process, government controls in the diamond trade are still inadequate and poorly enforced "See AI Analysis and Recommendations on Kimberley Process". As the brutal conflict in Sierra Leone has shown, even a small amount of conflict diamonds can wreak enormous havoc in a country. Adding to that …

Industry’s commitments are not followed through
In 2004, Amnesty activists in the UK and USA surveyed 579 diamond retailers to find out what they were doing to combat the trade in conflict diamonds. They found that 56% were unable to produce a hard copy of their policy and only 13% could provide warranties that their diamonds are conflicts free. The majority of the retailers are still not aware of conflict diamonds, not making relevant sourcing policies, not training their staff on the issue, and not able to provide warranties to customers"See Survey on Diamond Retailers". The Kimberley Process, the controls and monitoring by governments and the industry are still waiting to be strengthened.

"Act Now"

• Send a letter to World Diamond Council
• Request local retailers to offer warranty on sources of diamond "consumer guide"
• Join AIHK as an human right activist on corporate responsibilities

"Resources for Actions"

• Postcard
• Poster
• Consumer guide
• Curriculum guide
• Interviews with actress and directors of Blood
  
• Q&A

"Newspaper article"

• "Don't say 'I love you' with a blood diamond"Published on the South China Morning Post"7 Feb 2007.
  

• Blood Diamond Action Website
• Jewelry Campaign (HK)
• United Nations
• Kimberly Process
• World Diamond Council