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Conflict Free Buying Guide
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| Definition | Policies | Origins | Certification | Quality | Checklist |
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| CONFLICT FREE
BUYING GUIDE
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| Defining
Conflict Free
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What are the current standards for conflict free diamonds?
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Look for definitions of
conflict free that mention environmental and labor considerations as well as
eliminating violence and wars.
Current standards of conflict free diamonds require an origin certified to be
free from violence,
human rights abuses,
child labor,
or environmental
destruction.
Look for guarantees of certification and
tracking.
Conflict free diamonds must be independently tracked from their country and
individual mine of origin
with certification available.
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Potential Pitfall: Retailers
don’t consider many human rights abuses
when defining conflict free.
One often-cited definition is the nearly ten year old UN definition of conflict
diamonds as diamonds ”that originate from areas controlled by forces or
factions opposed to legitimate and internationally recognized governments, and
are used to fund military action in opposition to those governments, or in
contravention of the decisions of the UN Security Council”. This strictly
defines conflict
diamonds as diamonds used to fund civil war against recognized
governments, but ignores other human rights abuses.
Potential Pitfall: Any definition of conflict
free that relies only on the Kimberley Process is inadequate.
The Kimberley
Process, the most well-known effort to regulate the conflict diamond
trade, only addresses the narrow UN definition of conflict diamonds and does
nothing to address other human rights violations including
child labor,
state sanctioned violence, and
worker exploitation Sadly, violent groups across the world continue to
exploit the loose
controls of the Kimberley Process to traffic illicit diamonds for
profit. To date, the Kimberley Process has ignored abuses in cutting and
polishing centers, including child labor and safety hazards. |
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| Definition | Policies | Origins | Certification | Quality | Checklist |
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Child labor, hazardous
working conditions, and
subsistence-level wages
are found in the conflict
diamond trade. |
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