What are Blood Diamonds

Did Someone Die for That Diamond?

Some diamonds have helped fund devastating civil wars in Africa, destroying the lives of millions. Blood diamonds or conflict diamonds are those sold in order to fund armed conflict and civil war. Profits from the trade in blood diamonds, worth billions of dollars, were used by warlords and rebels to buy arms during the devastating wars in Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Sierra Leone. Wars that have cost an estimated 3.7 million lives.

While the wars in Angola and Sierra Leone are now over, and fighting in the DRC has decreased, the problem of conflict diamonds hasn’t gone away. Diamonds mined in rebel-held areas in Côte d’Ivoire, a West African country in the midst of a volatile conflict, are reaching the international diamond market. Conflict diamonds from Liberia are also being smuggled into neighboring countries and exported as part of the legitimate diamond trade.

What’s being done to stop conflict diamonds?

A major milestone occurred in 2003, when a government-run initiative known as the Kimberley Process was introduced to stem the flow of conflict diamonds. The Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS) imposes requirements on participants to certify that shipments of rough diamonds are conflict-free.