The new Leondardo DiCaprio movie Blood Diamond highlights the role that the illicit diamond trade played in the chaotic 1990s civil war in the African nation of Sierra Leone.
The stones also funded armed conflicts in Angola, Liberia, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.Today the illicit diamond trade is believed to fund armed conflict in Côte D'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) and to finance terrorists groups such as al Qaeda. >>
Is your diamond clear?
The diamond industry is eager to assure consumers they can confidently purchase one of the precious gems knowing its history is untainted by bloodshed and war.
"We have to start by knowing that 99.8 percent of all diamonds coming into the market are conflict free," said Eli Izhakoff, Chairman and CEO of the New York-based World Diamond Council.
"Everybody agrees on that percentage."
The figure stems a government-to-government certification plan set up in 2003 called the Kimberley Process that requires all diamonds transported across borders to be accompanied by a certificate that they did not fund conflict.
Member countries are banned from trading with nonmembers.
But human rights organizations are quick to point out weaknesses in the Kimberley Process that allow conflict diamonds into the international market.
Recent reports by the United Nations and the U.S. government found that an estimated 23 million U.S. dollars' worth of diamonds from Côte D'Ivoire may have been smuggled into the legitimate trade.
Evidence suggests the diamonds are taken into neighboring Ghana, where they are certified as Kimberley Process compliant, according to the Washington D.C.-based advocacy organization Global Witness.
"On the consumer side there's no way to be sure that the diamonds they're buying are conflict free," said Corinna Gilfillan of Global Witness, which has campaigned against conflict diamonds since 1998.
The organization is urging the U.S. to strengthen and enforce a trade act that implements the Kimberley Process as the best way to ensure the diamond trade is 100 percent conflict free. It is also calling for independent verification of the industry warranty system.
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