Conflict Diamonds
For thousands of years, diamonds have been an internationally recognized symbol of love, romance and marriage. However, a portion of the world's diamonds come from areas where war and blood shed are an every day occurrence. In some countries, rebel groups use the profits made from the sale of diamonds to buy weapons for their military operations. In this paper, I will introduce you to "conflict" or "blood" diamonds and the rebel groups that mine them. I will also look at the horrific infringements on basic human rights that these groups commit on a normal basis. By definition, conflict diamonds are diamonds that originate from mines that are under the control of rebel groups who are fighting against their country's government. Sierra Leone, a small country on the west coast of Africa, has for the last ten years been under the terror of an ever present civil war. This war is being fought between a rebel group known as the Revolutionary United Front and Sierra Leone's present government. The RUF took control of some of Sierra Leones richest diamond mines in the mid nineties. They now use the profits they make from these diamonds to buy weapons for their army, made up mostly of young boys forced to conscript. (United Nati
I believe that government agencies, jewellery store owners, diamond manufacturers and international leaders should work together to place a boycott on diamonds that originate from areas of conflict. If rebel groups such as the RUF are stripped of their main source income, it would make it much more difficult for them to continue to carry out their horrible and inhumane crimes on the people of Sierra Leone. In order for a complete boycott to take place, a certification process must be put in place. The fact is, conflict diamonds make up only a small portion of the worlds diamonds, so if a process is put in place where all diamonds that enter the international market place must come with a certificate of origin, conflict diamonds could be eliminated from the international market. All these efforts towards peace looked promising, unfortunately, in May of 2001, the Lome Peace Agreement collapsed when RUF forces kidnaped several United Nations peace keepers.(Amnesty International Annual Report: 2001) The Revolutionary United Front are still using conflict diamonds to fund their group. Every year they smuggle tens of millions of dollars in diamonds out of Sierra Leone every year. Many international diamond companies are taking steps to distance themselves from any association they may have previously had with conflict diamonds. DeBeers, a company based in South Africa, one of the largest diamond manufacturers in the world
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Approximate Word count = 968
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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