BLOOD DIAMOND

An African curse

What is Blood Diamond?

Blood diamonds are also known as “conflict diamonds” and are usually produced in areas controlled by rebel forces that are opposed to governments. The rebels use violence to force men, women and children into slave labor to mine the diamonds. The diamonds are used to purchase arms and fund their military actions. Through out the entire operation violence, threats, torture and slavery are practiced hence

“Blood diamond”

The diamonds are smuggled ontothe international diamond trade and then sold as legitimate stones. The flow of conflict diamondsoriginated mainly from:-

West Africa in places like Sierra Leone, Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo, Liberia and Ivory Coast

History of diamond First Diamond was found by a young boy

named Stephanus in South Africa. He Gave it to his neighbor named Niekerk. Niekerk gives it to a traveling salesman. And later Displayed at World Fair in Paris in 1867, & declared to be a diamond and named

“Eureka”

Starting of an internal war More diamonds were found during the

time & this was the start of the history of bloodshed in Africa

Mining became a big time activity

Realizing worth & preciousness of

diamonds

Local people began competing each

other,and started War among themselves.

Major profits is used by rebels & Warlords

 Forced labor, Child labor, Killing, Beatings, Smuggling, and Corruption Burning of houses and live stock have arisen with a high rate with no law enforcement to restrict.

Sierra Leone (West Africa)

Major source of hard currency was Diamond Mining

In 1991 - A rebel group entered the country & took control of it’s mining cities.

Rebels attempted to overthrow the government, & an illegal diamond trade was conducted openly.

The group cut off thousands of hands & feet to just show that how

powerful they are They even cut off the hands of children and women's. More then 30,000 people were

killed at that time.

Forced labor, child labor and many more crimes are happening with a very high progress rate with no law enforcement to restrict…

Child terrorism

Children's are being brain washed and being trained for terrorism activities by some terrorists and rebel forces.

Greedy people’s are doing smuggling and supporting rebels for terrorism activities for

Just some profit?

What's being done to stop ? The Kimberley Process of Certification Scheme (KPCS) is the process established in 2003 to prevent conflict Blood Diamonds from entering the mainstream market.

The KPCS was introduced by United Nations General Assembly. The process was set up "to ensure that diamond purchases were not financing violence by rebel movements and their allies seeking to undermine legitimate governments

The KP has done more than just blocking the flow of conflict diamonds, it has also helped to stabilize fragile countries and supported their development.

As the KP has made life harder for criminals, it has brought large volumes of diamonds onto the legal market.

This has increased the revenues of poor governments.

Remember! So if you’re buying diamonds it’s crucial to make sure you get some sort of documentation that the diamond your buying originated from a conflict free source.

Facts! In January 2003, 40 nations signed “THE KIMBERLEY PROCESS” – an effort

to stem the conflict diamonds. But illegal diamonds are still finding

their way to market it is up to the consumer to insist that a diamond is conflict-free.

There are still 200,000 child soldiers in Africa.

Sierra Leone is at peace…

Thank you

Submitted by- Ayush shrivastava