diamond dealers need to connect dots...

no doubt you've read about the movie blood diamonds (watch the trailer here) starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Djimon Hounsou, and Jennifer Connelly...and it is a relevent issue as today many hundreds of thousands of diamonds are given as gifts on a day used to mark the birthdate of jesus of nazareth...

is the irony clear to you...if not consider that blood diamonds are more generally referred to as conflict diamonds...and what are they??? according to amnesty international:

Some diamonds have helped fund devastating civil wars in Africa, destroying the lives of millions. Conflict diamonds are those sold in order to fund armed conflict and civil war. Profits from the trade in conflict 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.

in the end it is innocent civilians who suffer the worst consequences of the bloody wars financed through unscrupulously mined, processed, traded, and purchased (hello zales, jared, kay. et. al.) diamond rings, bracelets, necklaces, pendants etc...

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...but in the end the process was and remains a fox guarding the chicken coop scheme...

does this mean you shouldn't buy any diamonds??? well no, but you should know how to hold retailers accountable, first by reading the buyer's guideline, understand how jewelers keep consumers in the dark, better understand the history and context of the issue in human rights context by reading this article by greg campbell, and most importantly understand how little jewelers and their employees know about the source of and bloody consequences of profteering from blood diamionds...

so go see the movie and if you feel the need to own a diamond be a consumer with a human rights heart - especially think about that today, christmas day...

peace out <3