Blood diamonds

Blood diamonds (or conflict diamonds) are diamonds mined in a war zone and sold, to finance an insurgency, invading army's war efforts, or supporting a warlord's activity. Sierre Leone, Angola, Congo, Democratic republic of Congo, Liberia, and Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) have all been linked with such sales of blood diamonds that have funded conflicts.

Conflict-free diamonds are those whose profits aren't used to fund wars. They are produced and mined under ethical conditions. Only diamonds that are certified and can be traced from the mine to the consumer are conflict-free diamonds.

The illegal diamond trade was estimated in 1999 by the World Diamond Council to be 3.06% of the world's diamond production but by 2004 this was about 1% because of tighter regulations.

Conflict diamonds are still being sold today into the international diamond market as clean diamonds and the Canadian government is one of the most stringent in the world for monitoring this.

In May 2000, diamond producing countries of southern Africa met in Kimberley, South Africa to block conflict diamond trade so diamond buyers would be assured of clean diamonds.

Further planning 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 and for countries to lay criminal charges on anyone trafficking in conflict diamonds.

The World Diamond Council was formed to draft a new process, whereby all diamond rough could be certified as coming from a non-conflict source: the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS).

The Kimberley system increases transparency by forcing governments to keep records of diamonds exported and imported and their worth. This paper trail should make blood diamonds disappear. There are concerns that some are still sneaking in as some countries don't meet the requirements of the Kimberley Process.

Canada passed the ‘Export and Import of Rough Diamonds Act' which states that the Kimberley Process is the minimum requirement of certifying rough diamonds and the ‘ Canadian certificate' is also required for all shipments of diamonds. Canadian Customs can seize any shipment of diamonds that don't meet the requirements of the Act. Travelers intending to bring diamonds to Canada should know this.

David Chan of W.K. Chan explains how diamonds mined in Canada are processed.

The CANADAMARK system actually tracks diamonds mined from the Ekati mine in North West Territories from when mined, through the manufacturing process, to the retailer. These are laser inscribed with information on each diamond kept in a database so that every CANADAMARK certified diamond can be tracked back to the mine of origin.

The Northwest Territories offers a government certificate on all diamonds that are mined, cut, and polished, within the N.W.T.. Each diamond is also laser inscribed and recorded in a database.

Travelers a well as stay at home consumers should be aware of the above safe guards to ensure “clean diamonds”. Bringing blood diamonds back from a trip can be a serious offence. Buying Canadian manufactured diamonds is still one of the best ways to avoid blood diamonds.

Winnipeg has many recent immigrants from some of the countries touched by conflicts funded by blood diamonds with many people from Sierre Leone and Congo have been very much affected by the monies generated by illegal diamond sales.

Almost anything of value can be traced back to conflict or crime but regulating diamond sales gives consumers some control that the money they spend is not harming someone.

Presently Sierre Leone is rebuilding now that there is peace and is being regarded hopefully as a future safe tourist destination.