Blood diamond
Diamonds mined during the 20th–21st century civil wars in Angola, Ivory Coast, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Guinea, and Guinea-Bissau have been given the label.
Gemstones are exceptionally light and small in relation to their value as observed by Richard Auty who presents the stark contrast – tens of thousands of times the price per kilogram – of diamonds compared to other resources and consequently how 'lootable' they are.
[5] Deep mining for gold, kimberlite diamonds or other minerals requires the operation and maintenance of a capital-intensive facility; alluvial deposits by contrast, can be exploited cheaply using artisan tools for however long the relevant land is secured.
[6] Despite efforts to frustrate the sale of resources emerging from conflicts, a notable workaround is the agreement of what Michael Ross terms 'booty futures',[7] citing examples mostly from the 1990s concerning diamonds and oil from conflicts in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Angola, Equatorial Guinea, the Congo Republic, and Democratic Republic of Congo.
In these agreements, worth tens of millions of dollars, both rebels and government parties to conflict negotiate deals to realize value now from the prospect of resource exploitation in the future.
The different mode of production of kimberlite and alluvial diamonds explains why the presence of the latter in fought over areas fuels conflict in ways the former does not.
These findings have moved campaigners, policymakers and diplomats to devise regulatory interventions intended to prevent natural resources from funding continued fighting in the hope that this might hasten an end to those conflicts.
In the twelve years that followed the end of the Cold War, resolutions imposing sanctions on resource exporters in ten different conflicts were passed by the United Nations Security Council.
[8] Reports estimated that as much as 21% of the total diamond production in the 1980s was being sold for illegal and unethical purposes and 19% was specifically conflict in nature.
The report is credited with establishing the link between diamonds and third world conflicts,[13] and led directly to United Nations Security Council Resolution 1295, as well as the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme.
Still, after the report was published in 2013, smugglers from these African countries were selling blood diamonds through channels less sophisticated, such as social media posts.
[17][18] The Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly Zaire) has suffered numerous looting wars in the 1990s,[19] but has been a member of the Kimberley Process since 2003 and now exports about 8% of the world's diamonds.
In 2000, the UN accused Liberian president Charles G. Taylor of supporting the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) insurgency in neighboring Sierra Leone with weapons and training in exchange for diamonds.
[23] Around the time of the 1998 United States embassy bombings, al-Qaeda allegedly bought gems from Liberia as some of its other financial assets were frozen.
The Sierra Leone Civil War started in 1991 and continued until 2002, costing an estimate of 50,000 lives and causing local people to suffer killings, mutilation, rape, torture and abduction, mainly due to the brutal warfare waged by rebel group, the Revolutionary United Front (RUF).
The Revolutionary United Front (RUF) claimed that they supported causes of justice and democracy in the beginning, but later on they started to control the villages and to prevent local people from voting for the new government by chopping off their limbs.
Sierra Leone resulted in an increase of over US$140 million in 2005 and attempted a percentage return of export tax to diamond mining communities.
They used brainwashing of inexperienced young children and forced them to be child soldiers as they lost their personal freedom and rights under command that included violence and intimidation.
[42][43] In this resolution the Security Council wrote: Welcomes the proposal that a meeting of experts be convened for the purpose of devising a system of controls to facilitate the implementation of the measures contained in Resolution 1173 (1998), including arrangements that would allow for increased transparency and accountability in the control of diamonds from their point of origin to the bourses, emphasizes that it is important that, in devising such controls, every effort be made to avoid inflicting collateral damage on the legitimate diamond trade, and welcomes the intention of the Republic of South Africa to host a relevant conference this year.
[clarification needed] Before a gemstone is allowed through the airports to other countries, the Kimberley Certification must be presented by the gem's owner or obtained from a renowned attorney.
[49] The KPCS was given approval by the UN on March 13, 2002,[50] and in November, after two years of negotiation between governments, diamond producers, and Non-Government organizations, the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme was created.
The Kimberley Process attempted to curtail the flow of conflict diamonds, help stabilize fragile countries and support their development.
[51] The Kimberley Process has ultimately failed to stem the flow of blood diamonds, leading key proponents such as Global Witness to abandon the scheme.
[53] The Kimberley system attempted to increase governments' transparency by forcing them to keep records of the diamonds they are exporting and importing and how much they are worth.
[55] On January 18, 2001, President Bill Clinton issued Executive Order 13194 which prohibited the importation of rough diamonds from Sierra Leone into the United States in accordance with the UN resolutions.
[56] On May 22, 2001, President George W. Bush issued Executive Order 13213 which banned rough diamond importation from Liberia into the United States.
[57] The United States enacted the Clean Diamond Trade Act (CDTA) on April 25, 2003,[58] implemented on July 29, 2003, by Executive Order 13312.
A service was launched in July 2016 that allows managers to build systems using a blockchain database for tracking high-value or highly regulated items through a supply chain.
Everledger is one using such a system to "record the movement of diamonds from mines to jewelry stores" and is one of the inaugural clients of a new blockchain-based tracking service from IBM.
