Valentine's Day is that time of year when we pick out that perfect gift for our special someone. But as lovers choose gifts, I beg them not to purchase "blood" or "conflict" diamonds.
If you aren't familiar with blood-diamonds, rebels in African countries are using diamonds to fund horribly violent missions along the Ivory Coast. Conflict diamonds are being used to fund the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola and the Revolutionary United Front. The United Nations argues that both UNITA and RUF are acting against the U.N.'s efforts of bringing peace to Angola and Sierra Leone. As a result, 45 countries, ranging from Angola to Japan to Zimbabwe, came together and created the "Kimberly Process", which requires that diamonds mined after Jan. 1, 2003 be shipped in special containers, which are to serve as proof that the diamonds are not blood diamonds. But there are flaws in the "Kimberly Process." There is evidence to support that diamonds from the Ivory Coast are being sold to Western retailers despite the anti- "blood-diamond" policy.
The Kimberly Process is not working and we must quickly find another solution, as this issue is undeniably as urgent as it is tragic. Martin Chungong Ayafor, chairman of the Sierra Leone Panel of Experts, recently quipped, "'Diamonds are forever'... but lives are not. We must spare people the ordeal of war, mutilations and death for the sake of conflict diamonds." Sierra Leone's decade-long civil war has left upwards of 50,000 dead, half a million refugees, and thousands of amputees. Sierra Leone is currently ranked last on the U.N.'s Human Development Index. A U.N. Expert Panel report published in December 2000 estimated that in Sierra Leone, the RUF's diamond trade amounted to anywhere from $25 million to $125 million in diamonds per year in the late 1990s. Estimates of the proportion of "blood" and "conflict" diamonds in the diamond industry range from 4 to 15 percent.
While most college students can't afford to purcahse diamonds, we can easily make a dent in the negative aspects of the diamond industry by convincing our parents, older siblings and friends who are in the position to buy diamonds to seek alternative gifts. But if there is no alternative to be found, maybe the fact that only 300,000 carats come from the Ivory Coast each year, while the world produces a total of 155.7 million carats, will put your mind at ease.
Given how many diamonds the Ivory Coast produces in comparison to the rest of the world, many would argue that the diamond conflict has improved since the early 1990s. It is obvious that the fight to reduce the problems associated with diamonds mined in the Ivory Coast is a continuing struggle, but I know that I will do all I can this Valentine's Day to reduce the bloodshed for diamonds. I will start my campaign against blood-diamonds by strongly advising all of you to ditch the diamonds and buy Godiva chocolates. But if those Valentine's Day enthusiasts do decide to take the blood-diamond road, there is no reason to stop at the diamond. They should also give their loved one the remains of the people who were slaughtered, since they paid for that also, dearly.
Michael Ramos-Lynch '09 says get rough with RUF.
