Since the beginning of the 20th century, diamond-rich regions and their neighbors have endured unspeakable devastation for their wealth. The terms "conflict diamond" and "blood diamond" only entered the public consciousness recently, as the funds used to conduct devastating civil wars in Africa that ended millions of lives were traced back to diamonds. The conflict diamond trade has dealt permanent scars to people and nations around the world, fueling bloody civil wars, human rights abuses, child labor and terrorist organizations.
Despite widespread acknowledgment in the industry of their existence, these conflict diamonds have been smuggled into other regions and are now indistinguishable from the rest of the supply. Until now, it has been nearly impossible to verify the origin of diamonds and the conditions in which they are produced. The diamond industry's attempt to address the problem of conflict diamonds resulted in the Kimberley Process, which has been deemed woefully inadequate by independent NGOs and government monitoring bodies. The fact remains that conflict diamonds still exist.
Despite continuing efforts to regulate the industry, diamonds remain more of a curse than a blessing in many parts of the world. While many of the wars from which conflict diamonds originated have abated, state sanctioned violence in the diamond industry has not. In Africa and South America, violence still plagues many mines, with local populations displaced to make way for diamond development.
Smuggling is also rampant in the industry, making the global diamond trade one of the largest black markets in the world. Diamond smuggling intensifies violence and instability in diamond-producing regions. It also reduces the amount of money flowing back into diamond-producing communities, depriving the government of tax revenues needed for basic services.
In 2007, Zimbabwe emerged as a hotspot for large scale diamond smuggling when the country’s diamonds started surfacing in South Africa, where they were reportedly certified as legitimate and exported around the world. The Zimbabwe government denied the smuggling charges, but over the past two years, further evidence of corruption and violence in the nation’s diamond fields has generated international concern.
Recent studies conducted by Human Rights Watch show that police officers deployed in Zimbabwe’s fields to end illicit diamond smuggling were actually responsible for the harassment, torture, beatings and killings of artisanal miners and Zimbabwe locals. The study also revealed that Zimbabwe’s military, under the control of President Robert Mugabe, killed more than 200 people in a takeover of the Marange diamond fields in October 2008. The profits generated from the Zimbabwe diamond trade are funneled directly to Mugabe’s oppressive administration, and the military continues to aggressively pursue the Marange diamonds to fund their insurgent activities.
In mid 2009, the Kimberley Process finally ordered a review mission to Zimbabwe. The investigation confirmed that Zimbabwe was practicing serious non-compliance with Kimberley Process standards. The delegation recently issued a recommendation that Zimbabwe be suspended from the scheme to prevent Zimbabwe from legally exporting rough diamonds. In spite of this, Zimbabwe still has not been suspended from the Kimberley Process, and Zimbabwe diamonds continue to be sold worldwide.
Further Reading
Zimbabwe’s Blood Diamonds Not Key to Economic Recovery: Suspending Zimbabwe from the Kimberley Process is Essential (Partnership Africa Canada, August 3, 2009)
Army abuses Zimbabweans to control diamond fields – Human Rights Watch (Reuters, June 26, 2009)
Zimbabwe Diamonds Could be Financing International Terror Groups (Zimbabwejournalists, Jan 10, 2008)
UN denies helping Zimbabwe diamond smuggling (Reuters, May 16, 2007)
Zimbabwe: Government dismisses reports of diamond smuggling (Reuters, January 12, 2007)
Zimbabwe loses $400m in diamonds (News24, May 4, 2007)
Although the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) boasts an abundance of precious minerals, the country has been ravaged by diamond-related violence, disease, starvation, and tribal warfare that have resulted in the deaths of over 5 million people. Since the 1990s, rebel armies in the DRC have been exploiting small-scale diamond fields and funneling the profits toward insurgent activities.
In recent years, hundreds of thousands of Congolese have resorted to alluvial mining techniques and diamond smuggling to make a living. In 2009, tensions erupted along the border of Angola. Artisanal miners from the DRC were reportedly beaten and raped after the government of Angola discovered them smuggling in diamonds and mining on foreign soil. The DRC’s state diamond mining company has also been criticized for its violent attacks on artisanal miners that attempt to plunder diamonds from the state’s large-scale mines.
The lack of government regulation and the vicious internal struggle over DRC’s diamond wealth continue to produce inhumane living and working conditions for Congolese miners. According to a recent report by the U.S. Department of Labor, the DRC also uses child labor in their diamond mining activities. Despite growing international pressure to make the diamond industry safer, human rights abuses continue to pose an ongoing threat to small-scale diamond miners in the DRC.
Further Reading
Diamonds, Death and Destruction: A History (Partnership Africa Canada, 2009)
Report: Three countries accused of using child labor in diamond mines (National Jeweler, September 15, 2009)
Angola says Congo immigrants threaten diamond sector (Reuters, August 3, 2009)
Diamond Industry Annual Review, DRC (Partnership Africa Canada, 2007)
Angola
The 1998 sanctions banning the trade of Angolan diamonds have since been lifted, but Angola's small scale miners continue to work in inhumane circumstances under the control of private security firms hired by large diamond companies. In 2006, Angolan journalist Rafael Marques documented cases of flogging, humiliation, torture, sexual abuse and even assassinations on just one site of alluvial mining in the Lundas, the diamond-rich provinces of northeast Angola. Amnesty International also reported dramatic human rights violations including assault and rape by soldiers and police among the diamond mines. Over the past few years, Angola has become the world’s fifth-largest diamond exporter, but its behavior towards artisanal miners does not seem to be improving.
In August 2009, investigators for the Kimberley Process conducted a long overdue mission to Angola, the first since 2005. The team visited northern Angola, where recent reports of diamond smuggling and the mistreatment of foreign miners have made for tense border relations with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The Kimberley Process investigation uncovered numerous accounts of rape and brutality against miners from neighboring countries, including the DRC, Namibia and Zambia. Human rights groups also claim that many immigrants were detained for months in Angola and forced to hike 60 miles to the Congo border. Angola’s current conditions demonstrate the inadequacies of the Kimberley Process in preventing human rights abuses in the international diamond trade, as well as the failure of cooperation between the Angola and Congo governments to eliminate diamond-related violence.
Further Reading
Angola denies mistreating diamond prospectors (AFP, August 28, 2009)
Angola says Congo immigrants threaten diamond sector (Reuters, Aug 3, 2009)
A New Diamond War (Washington Post, Nov 6, 2006)
2005 Annual Report for Angola (Amnesty International, 2005)
Brazil's rich diamond mines are a source of bloody land rights conflict, located on the reservation of one of Brazil's indigenous tribes, the Cinta Larga. Mining these lands is illegal, but a black market has existed since the late 1990s. Partnership Africa Canada (PAC) claims that government certificates accompanying fully one-fourth of Brazilian exports are fraudulent. Brazil has also provided a haven for smuggled conflict diamonds from Venezuela and Guyana.
Further Reading
Diamonds' Glitter Fades for a Brazilian Tribe (New York Times, Dec 29, 2006)
Jewel of the Amazon (FRONTLINE, Jan 24, 2006)The brutal ruling junta in Burma, also called Myanmar, has funded its oppressive practices with the proceeds from their rich deposits of gemstones – primarily rubies, jade, and sapphires. More than 90% of the world's rubies come from Burma, with 2007 sales generating nearly $300 million dollars for the state. Burma's government is accused of brutal and massive oppression of ethnic minorities and organized dissension, including the forcible relocation of civilians, and the widespread use of forced and child labor.
Burma's gem mines are dominated by military authorities and plagued by deplorable conditions, including rampant land confiscation, extortion, forced labor, child labor, environmental pollution and unsafe working conditions. HIV/AIDS, drug-resistant malaria and tuberculosis are increasingly common in mining areas.
While the US placed a ban on all exports from the nation in 2003, lax regulations and tracking of gemstones have allowed them to continue to flow into the US unabated, often labeled as originating from Vietnam or Sri Lanka. The ban was further undercut by a loophole introduced the following year allowing stones cut and polished in other countries to be imported. Over 90 percent of Burma's gems are exported in the rough form, primarily to cutting and polishing facilities located in Thailand.
Further Reading
US renews pressure on Burma junta (BBC News, Dec 12, 2007)
Gem Dealers Push Ban On Myanmar Rubies (CBS News, Nov 17, 2007)
Gem Trade Bolsters Military Regime, Fuels Atrocities (Reuters, Nov 13, 2007)
Move over, blood diamonds (Reuters, Oct 4, 2007)
Venezuela, a country that annually produces an estimated 150,000 carats of diamonds, has officially exported none since January 2005. Despite this obvious discrepancy, Venezuela remains a member of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme for controlling rough diamonds. Smugglers continue to route the country's entire supply of rough diamonds through Brazil, Guyana, Hong Kong, the United States, and Belgium; providing easy avenues for conflict diamonds to enter general circulation and flagrantly ignoring Kimberley Process controls.
Further Reading
Expel Venezuela from diamond trade, says rights group (AFP, Oct 9, 2007)
Unregulated diamond mining wreaks environmental havoc in Venezuela (San Francisco Chronicle, Sept 23, 2007)
The Lost World: Diamond Mining and Smuggling in Venezuela (PAC, Nov 2006)
Violence still plagues many mines Africa and South America, with local populations displaced to make way for diamond development.
