![]() Ī miner works a diamond mine in Northwest Territories, Canada.When devoted Sierra Leone husband/father Solomon Vandy's ( Djimon Hounsou) family is dispersed by rebel militias and his young son Dia (Kagiso Kuypers) conscripted to serve as a child solider, Solomon is sent to work as a diamond miner. Thanks to a legitimate diamond industry, Botswana has enjoyed a complete about-face from one of the world's poorest countries in 1966 to the world's most rapidly growing economy over the last 25 years. In fact, three-quarters of Botswana's export profits and 45 percent of the country's government revenue are produced by diamonds. As recently as 1999, it was considered the world's fastest-growing economy. For example, the African nation Botswana has been able to thrive thanks to a successful diamond mining industry. First, remember that not all African diamond mines are corrupt. Īlthough Africa supplies about 60 percent of the world's diamond supply, there are alternate sources. In fact, the United Nations and the United States government released reports as recently as 2006 stating that roughly $23 million worth of Ivory Coast diamonds were smuggled into trade and distributed as legitimate. Critics, however, claim that the program doesn't prevent diamonds from being easily smuggled from war-torn countries to Kimberley Process countries and then passed off as legitimate. ![]() Proponents of the Kimberley Process claim that 99.8 percent of the world's diamonds are now legitimate and conflict-free. The countries must also agree to refuse any diamond shipments not containing an authentic Kimberley Process Certificate. In addition, each shipment must also have a specifically numbered and government-validated certificate that promises the shipment does not contain conflict diamonds. The Kimberley Process was envisioned by the diamond industry and put into practice by the United Nations.Īccording to De Beers, more than 70 countries participate in the Kimberley Process, which requires the governments in these countries to ensure that all diamond shipments are exported in secure containers. In response, the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KCPS) was created in 2002 to regulate diamond trading and keep blood diamonds from entering the legitimate diamond market. In the 1990s, human rights organizations worked to bring these tales of genocide and greed to the forefront of human concern. According to National Geographic News, all of these conflicts combined have displaced millions and resulted in the deaths of more than 4 million people. All in all, roughly 20,000 innocent people suffered bodily mutilation, 75,000 were killed and 2 million fled Sierra Leone altogether. Then the group moved on to the next village to do more of the same, effectively terrorizing the entirety of Sierra Leone, to the point that many people fled their homes in fear. Most of the time, the people behind these civil wars and rebellions oppose legitimate governments and desire control over the area's lucrative diamond industry.įor example, in Sierra Leone a group known as the Revolutionary United Front killed, threatened, and even cut off the arms of people living and working in diamond villages until they were able to take control of the mines in the area. Experts claim that the illegal sale of blood diamonds has produced billions of dollars to fund civil wars and other conflicts in various African nations, including Sierra Leone (where conflict ended in 2002), Angola, Liberia, Ivory Coast and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
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