Blood Diamonds Still Exist
The Year is 2011 and the headline reads:
As Ivory Coast's Gbagbo holds firm, 'blood diamonds' flow for export FULL ARTICLE
As Ivory Coast's Gbagbo holds firm, 'blood diamonds' flow for export FULL ARTICLE
I urge you to care about where the products you buy come from. Children are often forced into horrendous labor conditions and you are the recipient of their inhumane treatment. Don't turn away. Don't feel overwhelmed and helpless. You can make a difference by learning. Your wallet is your best ally against the slave trade. Where you spend your dollars dictates the market. If you say NO to [blood] diamaonds, all ivory, slave made chocolate, slave made fabrics and slave made toys (ALL slave made products) and DEMAND ethical trading practices, you will be part of the change.
Blood Diamonds
by Tiseke Kasambala
Published in: Independent World Report
When people buy diamond jewelery, they often want to convey love or commitment to someone dear and special. But, this jewelery, if it contains diamonds from the Marange diamond fields in eastern Zimbabwe, could have a bloody past signifying mistreatment and abuse.
Few outsiders have penetrated the closely guarded diamond fields in Marange. But, Human Rights Watch travelled regularly to the area in 2009 and interviewed more than hundred victims and witnesses of horrific human rights abuses. We documented the killings of hundreds of people by the Zimbabwean military, torture, and the use of forced labour - including children - in the diamond fields.
Blood diamonds continue to be mined and sold from Marange and find their way into jewelery stores worldwide. The stones often get smuggled into world markets via unregistered traders in neighbouring countries such as Mozambique or South Africa. These countries either do not or cannot certify the origin and flow of the stones, which then become intermingled with legitimate gems.
We should all send a strong message to the diamond industry, the smugglers, and those running these abusive mining operations: It is not acceptable to trade in stones mined by children whose labour was coerced, women who have been raped, or men who have been tortured. Diamond mining in Zimbabwe has inflicted great harm. We need to ask ourselves whether that is a moral price to pay for a stone.
READ KASAMBALA'S FULL REPORT
by Tiseke Kasambala
Published in: Independent World Report
When people buy diamond jewelery, they often want to convey love or commitment to someone dear and special. But, this jewelery, if it contains diamonds from the Marange diamond fields in eastern Zimbabwe, could have a bloody past signifying mistreatment and abuse.
Few outsiders have penetrated the closely guarded diamond fields in Marange. But, Human Rights Watch travelled regularly to the area in 2009 and interviewed more than hundred victims and witnesses of horrific human rights abuses. We documented the killings of hundreds of people by the Zimbabwean military, torture, and the use of forced labour - including children - in the diamond fields.
Blood diamonds continue to be mined and sold from Marange and find their way into jewelery stores worldwide. The stones often get smuggled into world markets via unregistered traders in neighbouring countries such as Mozambique or South Africa. These countries either do not or cannot certify the origin and flow of the stones, which then become intermingled with legitimate gems.
We should all send a strong message to the diamond industry, the smugglers, and those running these abusive mining operations: It is not acceptable to trade in stones mined by children whose labour was coerced, women who have been raped, or men who have been tortured. Diamond mining in Zimbabwe has inflicted great harm. We need to ask ourselves whether that is a moral price to pay for a stone.
READ KASAMBALA'S FULL REPORT
.
FROM HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH:
In the past two years, Zimbabwe’s armed forces, under the control of President Robert Mugabe, have engaged in forced labor of children and adults and have tortured and beaten local villagers in the diamond fields of the Marange district. The military seized control of these diamond fields in eastern Zimbabwe after killing more than 200 people in Chiadzwa, a previously peaceful but impoverished area, in late October 2008. While levels of violence have decreased, the army continues to engage in rampant diamond smuggling. Soldiers have forced local villagers to work in syndicates with the army to dig for the diamonds. Marange has become a zone of lawlessness and impunity, a microcosm of the chaos and desperation that currently pervade Zimbabwe.
In July 2010, the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme, an international body that oversees the diamond trade, decided to lift its one-year ban on exports of diamonds from the Marange fields, despite finding serious human rights abuses and rampant smuggling during its own investigation there. Its weak excuse was a technicality in its mandate that defines blood diamonds as those mined by abusive rebel groups, not by abusive governments.
Human Rights Watch continues to call for the withdrawal of the army from the diamond fields, an end to ongoing abuses, and investigations into human rights abuses that have taken place since 2007.
Responsible consumers should not buy diamonds from Zimbabwe’s Marange fields.
Kimberley Process participants, who met in Jerusalem from November 1st to 4th, failed to reach a consensus on whether Zimbabwe should be allowed to continue diamond exports from the Marange fields. Tell them that they need to take action to end the smuggling of blood diamonds and to stop the human rights abuses at the Marange diamond fields.
In the past two years, Zimbabwe’s armed forces, under the control of President Robert Mugabe, have engaged in forced labor of children and adults and have tortured and beaten local villagers in the diamond fields of the Marange district. The military seized control of these diamond fields in eastern Zimbabwe after killing more than 200 people in Chiadzwa, a previously peaceful but impoverished area, in late October 2008. While levels of violence have decreased, the army continues to engage in rampant diamond smuggling. Soldiers have forced local villagers to work in syndicates with the army to dig for the diamonds. Marange has become a zone of lawlessness and impunity, a microcosm of the chaos and desperation that currently pervade Zimbabwe.
In July 2010, the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme, an international body that oversees the diamond trade, decided to lift its one-year ban on exports of diamonds from the Marange fields, despite finding serious human rights abuses and rampant smuggling during its own investigation there. Its weak excuse was a technicality in its mandate that defines blood diamonds as those mined by abusive rebel groups, not by abusive governments.
Human Rights Watch continues to call for the withdrawal of the army from the diamond fields, an end to ongoing abuses, and investigations into human rights abuses that have taken place since 2007.
Responsible consumers should not buy diamonds from Zimbabwe’s Marange fields.
Kimberley Process participants, who met in Jerusalem from November 1st to 4th, failed to reach a consensus on whether Zimbabwe should be allowed to continue diamond exports from the Marange fields. Tell them that they need to take action to end the smuggling of blood diamonds and to stop the human rights abuses at the Marange diamond fields.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________
Fine jewelry sales in the United States rose 14.3% from December 2008 to December 2009. Approximately 50% of the $57.8 billion American jewelry market comes from diamonds. (Courtesy: PRLog)
Below is an older article, but still worth reading. As recently as October 2009 the HRW reports "...rampant abuses by the military in Marange including forced labor, child labor, killings, beatings, smuggling, and corruption...."
Diamond Monitoring Body’s Failure to Suspend Allows for Sale of “Blood Diamonds”
November 6, 2009
Directly from the Human Rights Watch website:
takes you to Mar 4 2010 article on blood diamonds
(Johannesburg) - The credibility of the world's "blood diamond" monitoring group has been damaged after its failure this week to suspend Zimbabwe despite overwhelming evidence of serious human rights abuses and smuggling in the Marange diamond fields in eastern Zimbabwe, Human Rights Watch said today.
"The group that monitors blood diamonds essentially ignored the blood being shed in Zimbabwe's diamond fields," said Georgette Gagnon, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. "That decision puts diamond consumers at risk of buying blood diamonds."
As recently as late October 2009, Human Rights Watch uncovered rampant abuses by the military in Marange including forced labor, child labor, killings, beatings, smuggling, and corruption. Human Rights Watch confirmed that stones coming from these fields are mined in the context of serious human rights violations. READ FULL ARTICLE
"The group that monitors blood diamonds essentially ignored the blood being shed in Zimbabwe's diamond fields," said Georgette Gagnon, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. "That decision puts diamond consumers at risk of buying blood diamonds."
As recently as late October 2009, Human Rights Watch uncovered rampant abuses by the military in Marange including forced labor, child labor, killings, beatings, smuggling, and corruption. Human Rights Watch confirmed that stones coming from these fields are mined in the context of serious human rights violations. READ FULL ARTICLE
BLOOD DIAMONDS -- National Geographic Video.
Click on the National Geographic link above. It will get you started....
MORE ARTICLES:
Diamond Smuggling Market Value: $280 Million Posted in Environmental · The ” blood diamond” market, or diamonds smuggled and trafficked for illicit products, is estimated to amount up to 4 percent of the $7 billion global diamond market, or $280 Million.
Source: Douglas Farah, Blood From Stones (New York: Broadway Books, 2004), pg. 4.
Illegal diamond mining in Zimbabwe deadly business Posted in Africa, Environmental · Illegal miners of diamonds in Zimbabwe are getting involved in clashes with security forces as fewer resources in the country leads more to the trade.
DIAMOND FEVER
From the LA Times:
Ronald seems a sober, respectable, church-on-Sunday type. Not the kind you’d find prospecting for diamonds here in Zimbabwe’s wild east, a world of swaggering foreigners, dirty money and shoot-to-kill police. Not the sort who’d utter movie-script lines like this one: “You can make $15,000 or $20,000 in 30 minutes. But you can die within seconds.”
Ronald, like the rest of Zimbabwe, has caught Africa’s nastiest ailment — diamond fever.
Sleepy towns such as Mutare have blinked awake to find their quiet streets buzzing with opportunists and black marketeers. Every day, illicit miners show up at the hospital with gaping bullet wounds and flimsy excuses for how they got them. Characters straight out of “Blood Diamond” cruise like sharks.
But the biggest sharks are nowhere to be seen: Officials of President Robert Mugabe’s regime are looting the diamonds, industry sources and members of Zimbabwe’s security services say.
Not only are they personally enriching themselves with one of the few natural resources still left in this ruined country, party fat cats may be finding life support in the diamond riches, Western diplomats and analysts fear, and gaining one more motive to cling to power
Trafficking and smuggling risks in Canada’s diamond industry Posted in Americas, Environmental Canada’s diamond industry is at risk of having “blood diamonds” laundered into their diamond industry by organized crime and terrorist organizations, according to the Canadian government.
From canada.com:
The diamond industry in Canada’s Far North is vulnerable to smugglers looking to import “blood diamonds” or launder the proceeds of organized crime syndicates and terrorist organizations, newly released federal documents say.
A boom in diamond mining during the last decade has rapidly turned Canada into the third-biggest producer in the world and created jobs in the North, especially in the Northwest Territories where the country’s biggest mines are based.
But Canadian authorities warn the fledgling industry could become a vehicle for money laundering.
“Diamonds have been, and continue to be, a main source of currency for both terrorist organizations and organized crime,” states a briefing note prepared by Citizenship and Immigration Canada in April.
“Conflict/blood diamonds are used to fund rebel operations, purchase arms, and other illicit activities (drugs). They are portable, high value and cannot be detected by any type of screening method,” continues the note, obtained by Canwest News Service under the Access to Information Act.
Blood diamonds, sometimes known as “conflict” diamonds, are typically mined in African countries wracked by civil war and used to finance rebel or government forces.
Tags: <Canada, diamond and miniral smuggling>
10,000 people in Zimbabwe to illegally traffic diamonds Posted in Africa, Environmental · Comment The Governor of Zimbabwe’s Reserve Bank told a conference that 10,000 people were entering Zimbabwe each month to traffic in illegal diamonds.
From The Herald (via AllAfrica.com):
Over 10 000 people from all over the world are visiting the eastern border town of Mutare every month for illegal activities involving diamonds, Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor Gideon Gono said Wednesday.
Gono told a conference of exporters that there were over 2 000 syndicates in the town that were smuggling diamonds out of the country.
Diamond Smuggling Market Value: $280 Million Posted in Environmental · The ” blood diamond” market, or diamonds smuggled and trafficked for illicit products, is estimated to amount up to 4 percent of the $7 billion global diamond market, or $280 Million.
Source: Douglas Farah, Blood From Stones (New York: Broadway Books, 2004), pg. 4.
Illegal diamond mining in Zimbabwe deadly business Posted in Africa, Environmental · Illegal miners of diamonds in Zimbabwe are getting involved in clashes with security forces as fewer resources in the country leads more to the trade.
DIAMOND FEVER
From the LA Times:
Ronald seems a sober, respectable, church-on-Sunday type. Not the kind you’d find prospecting for diamonds here in Zimbabwe’s wild east, a world of swaggering foreigners, dirty money and shoot-to-kill police. Not the sort who’d utter movie-script lines like this one: “You can make $15,000 or $20,000 in 30 minutes. But you can die within seconds.”
Ronald, like the rest of Zimbabwe, has caught Africa’s nastiest ailment — diamond fever.
Sleepy towns such as Mutare have blinked awake to find their quiet streets buzzing with opportunists and black marketeers. Every day, illicit miners show up at the hospital with gaping bullet wounds and flimsy excuses for how they got them. Characters straight out of “Blood Diamond” cruise like sharks.
But the biggest sharks are nowhere to be seen: Officials of President Robert Mugabe’s regime are looting the diamonds, industry sources and members of Zimbabwe’s security services say.
Not only are they personally enriching themselves with one of the few natural resources still left in this ruined country, party fat cats may be finding life support in the diamond riches, Western diplomats and analysts fear, and gaining one more motive to cling to power
Trafficking and smuggling risks in Canada’s diamond industry Posted in Americas, Environmental Canada’s diamond industry is at risk of having “blood diamonds” laundered into their diamond industry by organized crime and terrorist organizations, according to the Canadian government.
From canada.com:
The diamond industry in Canada’s Far North is vulnerable to smugglers looking to import “blood diamonds” or launder the proceeds of organized crime syndicates and terrorist organizations, newly released federal documents say.
A boom in diamond mining during the last decade has rapidly turned Canada into the third-biggest producer in the world and created jobs in the North, especially in the Northwest Territories where the country’s biggest mines are based.
But Canadian authorities warn the fledgling industry could become a vehicle for money laundering.
“Diamonds have been, and continue to be, a main source of currency for both terrorist organizations and organized crime,” states a briefing note prepared by Citizenship and Immigration Canada in April.
“Conflict/blood diamonds are used to fund rebel operations, purchase arms, and other illicit activities (drugs). They are portable, high value and cannot be detected by any type of screening method,” continues the note, obtained by Canwest News Service under the Access to Information Act.
Blood diamonds, sometimes known as “conflict” diamonds, are typically mined in African countries wracked by civil war and used to finance rebel or government forces.
Tags: <Canada, diamond and miniral smuggling>
10,000 people in Zimbabwe to illegally traffic diamonds Posted in Africa, Environmental · Comment The Governor of Zimbabwe’s Reserve Bank told a conference that 10,000 people were entering Zimbabwe each month to traffic in illegal diamonds.
From The Herald (via AllAfrica.com):
Over 10 000 people from all over the world are visiting the eastern border town of Mutare every month for illegal activities involving diamonds, Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor Gideon Gono said Wednesday.
Gono told a conference of exporters that there were over 2 000 syndicates in the town that were smuggling diamonds out of the country.
