With the release today of Blood Diamond, a film that highlights the ruthless trade in diamonds which funds civil wars waged by child soldiers in Africa, the glittering attraction of diamond jewellery might lose some of its lustre.
Death, corruption and environmental destruction are the last thing anyone wants as the subtext to personal happiness and commitment - or even just to the feelgood factor inherent in a piece of beautiful jewellery. But with the release today of Blood Diamond, a film that highlights the ruthless trade in diamonds which funds civil wars waged by child soldiers in Africa, the glittering attraction of diamond jewellery might lose some of its lustre.
Traditionally, diamonds have been graded - and priced - according to four Cs: carat, colour, clarity and cut. Increasing concern over the diamond industry's human cost - whether that means the use of child labour in the mines or the way profits are used to fund civil wars in Africa - is persuading some jewellers to add a fifth C to the list: conflict-free.
Girls intent on making diamonds their best friend can now opt for clear- conscience gems by ensuring that they have a Kimberley Process Certificate. The process in question requires rough diamonds to be sealed in tamper-resistant containers and accompanied by forgery-resistant, conflict-free certificates with unique serial numbers each time they cross an international border.
The scheme is backed by the United Nations and was incorporated into the law of participating countries on January 1, 2003. In 2004, it was announced that considerably less than 1% of diamonds were now so-called "conflict diamonds", a reduction from approximately 4% before the Kimberley Process had come into being.
With the wars in Angola and Sierra Leone now over, and the fighting in the Democratic Republic of Congo much reduced, the aim is to produce a peace dividend by putting the revenues from legitimately traded diamonds into local health, education and infrastructure. It is a particularly powerful message in previously war-torn countries.
President Mogae of Botswana, where diamonds account for 76% of export revenue, said in June last year: "For our people, every diamond purchase represents food on the table, better living conditions, better healthcare, safe drinking water, more roads to connect our remote communities and much more."
Since diamonds were discovered there in 1966, the GDP annual growth rate has averaged 7%, making Botswana one of the fastest-growing economies in the world. In Namibia, diamonds represent approximately 10% of GDP, 40% of export revenue and 7% of the government's annual revenue. The new message to affluent jewellery buyers is that by buying African diamonds which carry Kimberley Process certification, you are actively helping some of the world's poorest communities.
Apart from the human cost of the diamond trade, the mining process has an inevitable environmental cost. Canada is now the world's third-largest producer of diamonds, generating an estimated C$1.5bn worth each year in the far north of the country. Some of these are now marketed as ethical diamonds. The company Igloo Diamonds, for example, passes 40% of the mark-up between sale price and original cost to landmine clearing in Mozambique, and its diamonds are mined only following environmental impact studies.
Environmentalists who would prefer to see an end to destructive mining for diamonds and gold can also switch to recycled jewellery. Acknowledging that it is unrealistic to aim to stop the entire jewellery trade, the group greenKarat - which nevertheless has the long-term goal of ending destructive gold and diamond mining - wants to encourage socially responsible alternatives. To that end, it is urging consumers to ask for recycled gold as a first step.
As with the Kimberley Process of recording the provenance of diamonds, greenKarat wants gold to be labelled with its ecological characteristics as it goes through the process from being mined to fashioned into jewellery.
GreenKarat claims there is enough gold already mined to satisfy all the demands of the jewellery industry for the next 50 years, and claims that much of it is sitting in bank vaults in the form of old and unused jewellery. It also believes that diamond mining can be ended completely thanks to the availability of synthetic stones.
Despite the reassuring statistics, it isn't necessarily straightforward to find diamonds on the high street that you can guarantee are conflict-free. The best thing is to buy carefully, ask questions - and try to use recognised ethical suppliers. The web links below should help.
www.kimberleyprocess.com
www.diamondfacts.org
www.diamonds.ca
www.greenkarat.com
