Many of the world's diamonds are harvested using practices that exploit and degrade children, communities, the labor force, and the local environment. Workers are subject to brutality, degrading working conditions, low pay and sometimes death. Labor abuses are built into the industry in many parts of the world, community development remains stagnant, and environmental degradation continues apace.
Artisanal and small-scale miners (ASM) are estimated to produce 20-25% of all non-fuel minerals worldwide, $2 billion worth of gold and gems in Africa, and 15% of the planet's diamonds, valued at $1.2 billion. But the value of their contribution is hardly matched by what they gain from their livelihood: Global Witness, the advocacy organization that first brought conflict diamond issues to light, estimates that there are about one million diggers in Africa who earn less than a dollar a day from mining diamonds. By international standards, this unliveable wage is below the extreme poverty line, depriving these miners of basic needs and increasing child and young adult mortality, illiteracy, and lack of water and sanitation.
Small-scale mining is usually an illegal activity carried out under dangerous, often unhealthy conditions, and without safety equipment, proper tools, or recognition from the state. Gender imbalances and child labor also plague the sector, which is composed of some of the poorest people in the world. Without formal training or education in their trade, small-scale miners often rely on harmful practices that can leave the earth ruined for future agricultural development.
Further Reading
Sapphire Miners in Madagascar (BBC News, June 27, 2007)
Conditions grim in Sierra Leone's diamond mines (Reuters, Sept 4, 2007)
South Africa: Miners demand safety first (IRIN Africa, Dec 5, 2007)
Lack of regulation, harsh labor conditions, and poor wages make child labor a regular practice in the conflict diamond trade. Children are commonly considered an easy source of cheap labor and are often sent into small areas of mines that adults aren't able to enter. They are often given dangerous and physically challenging tasks, such as moving earth from pits, or risking their lives to landslides to be lowered into small holes or pits on ropes.
In Angola, a recent study found 46% of miners are under the age of 16, with many of the children working because of war, poverty, and the absence of education. And in India, where more than half of the world's diamonds are processed, child labor is commonly used for cutting and polishing diamonds. Taken on as "apprentices," these children suffer for years in dangerous conditions for little to no pay until they are replaced, often by younger siblings.
To dispose of the leftover ore contaminated with Cyanide and other toxins ("tailings"), a mine will create a dam which gets built up over the life of the mine. The gradual building of the dam generally causes the structure to be unsound. In the last 25 years, these dam failures have accounted for three-quarters of all major mining accidents. In 2000, a gold mine resulting from a tailings dam failure in Romania spilled more than 100,000 gallons of cyanide-laced mine waste into the Tisza river, killing 1,240 tons of fish and contaminating the drinking water supplies of 2.5 million people.
Further Reading
Grime behind the glitter? (MSNBC, 2006)
The Hidden Factory: Child Labour in India (The South Asian, Mar 7, 2005)
The end of civil war in Angola, Sierra Leone, and other African nations should have led to greater economic development for all. Five years of peace has nearly doubled diamond production in Angola, while annual diamond financial contributions to the government has more than tripled to $165 million in 2006. But communities near diamond mines in Angola struggle to survive with little to no government spending. Partnership Africa Canada reports in 2007 that there are no government public schools, or water supply systems, or public health clinics. Roads are in serious disrepair, and agricultural extension programs are nowhere to be found.
While over half of the Congo's foreign exchange earnings are derived from the export of diamonds, and an estimated 700,000 people dig for them, most are unregistered, and their efforts are largely unrecognized. In fact, more than 90% of the country's $700 million in diamond exports is produced by small-scale entrepreneurs earning the international extreme poverty wage-a dollar a day.
In Sierra Leone, diamond-rich regions remain poor in absolute terms. Partnership Africa Canada found that Kono District, which has produced billions of dollars worth of diamonds and is home to the largest concentration of artisanal miners, has a far higher level of poverty than Pujehun District, a largely agricultural area.
Further Reading
Sierra Leone Diamond Industry Annual Review (Partnership Africa Canada, 2006)
Angola Diamond Industry Annual Review (Partnership Africa Canada, 2007)
There are one million diggers in Africa who earn less than a dollar a day from mining diamonds.
