War’s Diamonds

Recently I watched again a movie called ‘’Blood Diamond’’. The main topic addressed in the movie is the way diamond’s companies benefit and maintain the civil war in Sierra Leone - one of the most important diamond producer in the world – to gain money and serve their cupidity. The movie shows how RUF, the rebel group opposed to the government, kidnaps people and force them to work in diamond mines to finance their guerilla, uproot children to their family and train them to be soldiers and how they install the terror by amputating people of a hand to discourage them to vote.

My main concern about this drama is about these diamond companies aware of the situation and harboring the system. How are they able to ignore the atrocities happening and finance them? The worst of the paradox is that we are all concerned as potential buyer.

To limit the escalation of the drama caused, a treaty has been signed in 1999 during the Kimberley Process t prohibit the sale of diamonds coming firm war areas. Nevertheless it is estimated that at least 4% of the diamonds circulating on the markets are still coming from war zones.

For a better control and respect of the treaty, it is our individual responsibility to enquire about the origin of the diamond before buying it