Hendina Riyadi
Blood Diamond Research
For thousands of years, diamonds have been highly regarded by everyone from kings and queens to ordinary people. Diamonds are a symbol for wealth, elegance, love, and power. Centuries ago, they were also a symbol of courage, invincibility and strength. What is less commonly known is that these stones are also a symbol of terror and death. Conflicts arise from the mining of these gems; many people have died and many are perhaps still dying because of the mining of these precious stones.
The Discovery of Diamonds
Although the exact date in unclear, the first diamond discovery in Africa was sometime between late 1866 and early 1867. The discovery of these precious stones began when a 15-year old
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It was the marketing campaign of the De Beers Group that have made diamonds as popular as they are now.
Conflict Diamonds
Conflict diamonds are mined in Sierra Leone, Cote d 'Ivoire, Angola, Congo and Liberia, where unstable governments and various rebel groups are in constant conflict. Rebels and other armed insurgents mine diamonds and sell them to finance the purchase of weapons and ammunition. Common people such as farmers, including children, are forced to work in diamond mines and suffer extreme violence. Mass murders are common and those who fail to obey orders, are caught for petty crimes or are not able to produce enough diamonds are either shot on the spot or have their arms amputated. The popularity of diamonds has escalated such crimes. It has encouraged the rebels to mine more diamonds to be able to purchase more arms.
Diamonds are worth a lot of money. That is a fact that cannot be denied. For the most part, the international diamond trade is all above board with countries trading diamonds all over the world. But, as is usually the case where lots of money is involved, there are those who try to take advantage of others even in the diamond trade.
What is Conflict Diamonds?
When 'conflict diamonds ' are mentioned, most people think of the film Blood Diamond. The film did succeed in making the problem of conflict diamonds public, but it also gave people a terribly one-sided view of the problem. One of the biggest problem that diamond
With the fact the Diamonds are made by the rock cycle then it affects where we can find them. We can see this from the fact that certain areas in the world have certain attributes that let diamonds be able to form. Crain found that diamonds may be spat out in the volcanic smoke that is released during an eruption. We can find them with the gravel that came out as well with the volcanic
We see clearly in the movie how the factors of production is used: land, labour, and entrepreneurship. Land is the resource where diamonds are found, and in Blood Diamond we see how the RUF uses a form of alluvial mining and open pit mining on the land. The men would find the diamonds by digging and shoveling in rocks that are eroded by rivers and streams. The result of this is disastrous to the land because of the enormous amount of soil that is removed to obtain the diamond. Also wasted rocks from the mining can leak harmful substances back into the water. Blood Diamond did an admirable job at depicting the realities of how
The diamond cartel has been in existence for over a hundred years. (Spar: 2006) It has faced many issues in order to survive and prosper. (Kretschmer: 1998) Rhodes’ method was sufficient during the early 1900s. (Spar:2006) By 1930, the price of diamonds had fallen and the war was looming; Europeans were not interested in buying diamonds. (Epstein: 1982) It changed ownership to the Oppenheimers around about the Great Depression. Thus began the exploitive marketing tactics of the 20th century. (Epstein: 1982)
This elucidates the idea that black market trading rarely benefits the economic status but different corrupt organizations. Businesses should find a way to properly trade legal diamonds, while benefiting the country’s economic system. Although the natural resources in some parts of Africa are rich, the people are extremely poor. In other words, Richman also states, "The great irony of this, and what concerns the industry most, is that the item is being sold as a part of a romantic, everlasting, and pure relationship, but there are a lot of ugly shadows that have contributed to the industry 's success." Industries must end their contribution to the blood diamonds that fuel this nation’s civil wars.
Diamond revenues also contribute to finding ways to fight as HIV/AIDS. Africa has long dealt with the HIV/AIDS crisis so revenue from diamonds would help healthcare in Africa all-around. The revenue also helps provide low-cost healthcare, more available facilities and clean water, which means lower infections being spread and longer life expectancy. The diamond industry also provides many jobs for the citizens in Africa. Jobs that people are employed in mining, cutting, and diamond manufacturing. These employment opportunities allow thousands of Africans to make money, get healthcare, and provide education for their children.
I believe that the three main points of this article were, how the value of the diamond came to be, why diamonds are expensive, and why Americans view diamonds with such a high standard.
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 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 ranked the world's poorest country by the UN Human Development Index, with about 70% of its people living on less than 70p per day. Diamonds account for 94% of its exports. Sierra Leone gained the deserved reputation as "the most dangerous country on earth." Diamonds from these mines are called conflict diamonds, or blood diamonds. Blood diamonds were used to finance civil war.
Adding to that, diamond mining produces many jobs and economic growth (Diamond Facts website, 2016). Globally, ten million people are employed due to the diamond industry (Diamond Facts website, 2016). Most diamonds come from less developed countries (Diamond Facts website, 2016). These countries use the revenue produced by diamond mining to better their country (Diamond Facts website, 2016). Much of the revenue goes to building infrastructure like hospitals, schools, roads, and clean water systems (Diamond Facts website, 2016). The diamond trade produces eight point four billion dollars to Africa (Diamond Facts website, 2016). Countries within Africa such as Botswana and Namibia have evidenced that profits from diamonds aid less developed countries have substantial benefits like economic growth and stability (Diamond Facts website, 2016). Profits from mining diamonds has shown to play an important role in turning war-torn countries into economically stable places (Diamond Facts website, 2016). Botswana has one of the fastest growing economies in the world, chiefly due to the diamond industry (Diamond Facts website, 2016). Without diamond mining, Botswana would lose three billion dollars in profits per year (Diamond Facts website, 2016). The result would be devastating to
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.
It is difficult to look at a diamond for what it truly is: a rock. The over-glamorization of diamonds has spiked an increase in diamond mining activity in Canada. As the name suggests, diamond mining is the excavation of these gemstones through a series of processes. Canada’s climate in the north provides the perfect environment for diamonds to spawn, thus reinforcing Canada’s position as the “third-largest diamond producers in the world.” The internet reimagined many things into current, popular trends. Similarly, the simpleness of diamond-encrusted jewelry was not enough; it opened up the possibilities of diamond-embellished cars, handbags, chess sets and even TV’s. However, there are many steps to undertake in order to successfully excavate
As defined in the case study, conflict diamonds are gemstones that are mined or stolen by rebels fighting internationally recognized governments. Any of the anti-government/rebel forces/guerrilla troops/or other nonconformist groups within the areas of question or which could fall into this category or situation. The case study points out two groups who benefited the most under this circumstance; the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) (specific to the Sierra Leone region in West Africa) and the UNITA rebels (specific to the Angola region). These rebels inflicted physical pain on the villages which they took over in order to
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
Diamonds are suitable for smuggling due to their small size, high value and once polished, their origin is difficult to establish. The diamond