Battling Blood Diamonds Essay examples

The process of producing the diamonds so they could be sold on the market involved many steps which were illustrated in the movie, Blood Diamond. Smugglers like Archer would supply the RUF with guns. The guns would be used by the RUF to intimidate the people of Sierra Leone into working as laborers for them, we see this with Solomon and his son. These men would be forced to dig in the water mines for hours a day searching for diamonds of all sizes. Then the diamonds are mixed with other diamonds all around the world, mixing the illegal ones with the legal ones; this was explained in the movie by Archer to Maggie. When the diamonds are mixed in with the others, no one can determine for certainty where each originated from. It is then distributed to nations where they are made into necklaces and bracelets, and no questions are asked.

Considering the U.N.’s response to the war in Sierra Leone, it has a long way to go in its responsibility to ensure “legitimate governance under international law.” But U.N. efforts alone won’t stop the senseless killing in Sierra Leone over illicit diamonds. Kayne West’s song and video about “blood diamonds” makes us take an honest look at ourselves and ask: Is my fascination with diamonds contributing to the violence in Sierra

Human blood is shed on almost every diamond mined in Africa, bought from Africa, or traded out of Africa. In the beginning of Aryn Baker’s article “Dirty Diamonds” in TIME magazine, Baker presents a man conflicted with his decision to buy an engagement ring, because he does not want “. . . a symbol of our union to also be associated with chaos and controversy and pain.” (Baker 64). This man in the example, Max Rodriguez, undoubtedly knew of the backbreaking work that children are subjected to, to provide for their families or to raise money to receive an education. Baker argues that the diamond industry in Africa hinders the development of children, nations, and that this problem may be too large to control as she appeals to logic, evoking

This essay supports the statement “The price of diamonds is too high”. Diamonds have always been presumed to be rare. They have been present in history as a symbol of wealth and luxury as they were so difficult to find. Nowadays diamonds are mined and are found all over the world but they are sold through a cartel. (Epstein 1982) A cartel limits the supply of a product in order to keep prices high and to limit competition. (South African Pocket Oxford Dictionary: 2002) This raises the question of whether diamonds are actually worth their price. This essay focuses on the origins and the basic theory behind the diamond cartel; the early operation of the cartel; De Beers’ strong market campaign; determining De Beers’ current

Due to these Blood Diamonds, Sierra Leone has faced many social and economic costs. One diamond is capable of causing a civil war. That’s all, a fight over diamond control took many lives. During this civil war, rebels came and committed disgusting crimes including murder,

The decade long civil war in Sierra Leone was ignited by its diamond resources. The diamonds that were native to this land

The conflict diamonds started to be present and problematic in Sierra Leone as soon as DeBeers mining company took control of all diamond prospects throughout this region. Although DeBeers was keeping a moderate watch on the trading and actions being taken through it, traders from Lebanon (bordered by Syria and Israel to the south) were able to easily smuggle and mine diamonds out through the company. Later towards the 1950s, countries, such as Sierra Leone, had to give up the chance of regulating the illicit diamond industry, thus having to warn owners of the mines to provide their own security measures for the mines and land they owned. The issue wasn’t justly political or economic until Sierra Leone gained its independence in 1961, letting Siaka Stevens enroll as Prime minister, therefore having a one-party ruler. Stevens took control, and monopolized the diamond mines, as well as encouraging them to gain power and fame nationwide. Things were looking austere for diamond control rights and regulations, not only to watch a civil war emerge, surging through the country as fire fought fire and brother fought against brother. As the war extended from 1991 to 1999, it brought forth other problems as a result of citizen on citizen warfare for the diamonds such as rape, murder, and sex slaves. Once 75,000 lives were claimed, the people of Sierra Leone finally realized that victims and executors of these terrible crimes has emerged from the cash crop known as diamonds.

Sierra Leone is a country most notoriously known for its humanitarian problems associated with conflict diamonds. These luxury items have caused numerous individuals residing in the third world country to lose their lives or lose the ability to live a fruitful life. In addition to their humanitarian issues, they are also plagued by issues of bad governance. Their recent civil war that took place during most of the 1990s had tainted the citizens’ views on what an effective government could do. To complicate matters further, there was also a recent disastrous Ebola outbreak that not only harmed the residents in great numbers, but also the already hindered economy. Their economy, heavily instilled in agrarian and natural resource roots, is

Diamonds have been known to man since ancient times and with new technology of the 21st century many diamonds rich areas have been identified and supply chain been established in line with those reserves.

Massacres have been conducted with self explanatory names, such as Operation Pay Yourself, to Operation No Living Thing (xxi). “Not only is the country (Sierra Leone) rich in gem and quality diamonds, but it’s also a repository for oil, rubies, gold, rutile, and bauxite. It should be the Saudi Arabia of Africa, but it’s not,” ( xxii). Fair trade was created for a reason similar to this, those usually distributing the product abuse the labour they have, which will only intensify the gap between the rich and the poor. Stones stolen from Sierra Leone at the tip of a machete and the barrel of an AK-47 could be anywhere, from safe houses in Monrovia, to deposits in Belgium, to display cases of jewelry stores in the neighborhood mall (226). This proves it has been close to impossible where diamonds have come from, which only equates this issue to being

Diamond mines known as “ Blood Diamonds” are killing millions of people, just in the last year 200 people have died in these diamond mines. Russia, Africa, Canada, and Australia are damaging their country trying to recover from war. Blood diamonds are deadly and shutting down the diamond mines will solve the issue.

The film marker is trying to raise awareness of the illicit conflict diamond trade and reinforcing the Kimberley process1 and showing how it will stem the flow of conflict diamonds. This is successful mainly due to the public outburst after the movie. The great impact of the movie has caused diamond

In terms of mining diamonds on small scale, they are generally unregulated activity and often has no laws since they the work is done independently and privately rather than through a formal company. Many of these miners do not have a license nor have access to global markets thus limiting their bargaining power and having limited to no leverage thus forcing them to sell the diamonds to middle men which are way below market prices. (Brilliant Earth, 2016)

Nowadays, diamonds are one of the most precious luxury items where people are purchasing for large sums of money without knowing the facts that the mining industries are affecting the natural environments around them. As more people are purchasing the diamonds, the more diamonds are produced from the factories and more negative

Most all of the world has had a love affair with diamonds. They are sparkling, mesmerizingly beautiful and considered rare gems. Yet, if you knew the history and the blood that is shed over the 133 million carats of diamonds mined each year, you would probably never buy a diamond again.