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The return of blood diamonds
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by LotusFlower | June 24, 2009 at 10:31 pm
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The Kimberley Process that sought to stop the illegal and bloody sourcing of diamonds is in disarray as it's key author Ian Smillie has walked out on it claiming that it is not being enforced leading to diamonds sourced through bloodshed of innocent people now being widely available again.
Campaigners who point to the diamond trade as being one of the causes of civil wars in some African states have urged people to stop buying diamonds. Zimbabwe is cited as one of the worst culprits at this moment in the mining and trade of so called 'blood diamonds'
The leading architect of the international system to stop the trade in blood diamonds has warned that the safety net is close to collapse with governments and the industry failing to act against gross violations.
Ian Smillie, the "grandfather" of the landmark Kimberley Process, that was agreed in response to appalling civil wars in Africa fuelled by illegal gems, said he had "stomped out" on his scheme as it was no longer working.
"It isn't regulating the rough diamond trade," the Canadian expert said yesterday. "It is in danger of becoming irrelevant and it's letting all manner of crooks off the hook."
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Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (6)
at 00:11 on June 25th, 2009
nice to see you are still posting some stories, zichi!
at 10:08 on June 25th, 2009
Important to ask where the diamonds are from, I wouldn't want to wear one.
at 09:44 on June 27th, 2009
This is terrible, people do need to check where their diamonds are coming from before they buy, and if they are too cheap, it's not a good sign.
at 18:35 on June 29th, 2009
The problem is that diamonds pass through so many hands before they reach the jewellers that there is no way to know for sure where they came from.
at 07:12 on July 2nd, 2009
This is unfortunate for these countries. I take my time to know where all my diamonds come from and so should you.
at 19:11 on September 21st, 2009
On larger stones finding out where they came from is easy, when it comes to the smaller diamonds finding where they came from can be impossible but finding jewelers that only carry non blood diamonds is easy to do to, just ask the jeweler.