Diamonds in a Rough World

(© Jean-Claude Coutausse/ CONTACT Press Images)

With Valentine's Day fast approaching, I've been using the day of love as an opportunity to talk about the real story behind those symbols of love many of us will be receiving either in a chocolate box or in bouquet form. However, there are some out there who will be opening up a special box with a little sparkle inside and have very little clue of the destruction that it saw along the way. Your new diamond bling might have funded a civil war a world away.

While cocoa is funding the civil war in Côte d'Ivoire, diamonds are the currency in fueling the destruction of Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Liberia and Sierra Leone. It is probably one of the most horrific tales of conflict I've heard. Maybe you've seen the Leo DiCaprio movie, Blood Diamond. The movie served to expose to enormity of this problem to a wider audience, but there are more real stories out there that shed light on the situation. CurrentTV did a recent pod called "Blood Roses and Diamonds" I recommend you all checking out.

Stories of child soldiers, drugged up youth, amputees and killing innocent people for sport in the name of diamonds. Amnesty International have issued detailed reports about the illicit trade behind the world's most precious stone. They talk about one child soldier Jusu Lahia, 15 years old and his forced involvement in Sierra Leone's Revolutionary United Front,

Lahia was carried to a bare, fire-blackened hospital room in Kailahun, the RUF's stronghold in the Parrot's Beak, and dumped on a pile of hay that served as a bed. When I first saw him there, surrounded by chaos, heat, and filth, I found it hard to remember that the cause of all this suffering– thousands of doomed refugees, well-armed but illiterate and drugged combatants, fallen wounded like Lahia, and injured civilian children– was brutally simple: the greed for diamonds. Certainly, there was nothing nearly as lustrous or awe-inspiring as a diamond in the blood-stained room where Lahia was dying of a tetanus infection, next to another felled 15 year-old. Powerless to treat him, the RUF field medics had simply taped his wounds shut and left him wracked with sweats and shivers.

Amnesty International teamed up with Global Witness to put an end to the situation. Measures have been taken, such as the the diamond industry's support of the Kimberley Process that is a government-run scheme to track the trail of diamonds to make sure that they are conflict-free.

Ok, sorry to be a Debbie Downer again, but even more is being done to bring justice into the diamond trade and this time it seems that someone in the diamond industry has taken the initiative to bring on the fairness. Tiffany & Co. Foundation -- yes, the ones behind that precious little blue box -- have provided funding to TransFairUSA explore the possibility of Fair Trade Certified diamonds. So not only would the diamonds be conflict-free, but more benefits would be passed on to the miners of the diamonds to make sure that they are treated fairly and programs can be set up to benefit the community. Paul Rice, TransFair's CEO reports,

Fair Trade Certified diamonds have the potential to deliver unprecedented benefits to populations currently experiencing severe disadvantages in the diamond trade. As the U.S. is the single largest market for diamonds in the world, it is highly appropriate for TransFair USA to play a leading role in exploring the feasibility of whether the Fair Trade Certification model is transferable to this challenging industry. We look forward to collaborating with our global network of allies to address this critical issue in the complex environment of diamond mining and trading.

Way to go Tiffany & Co and TransFair. There are already conflict-free diamonds out there from Brilliant Earth and Fair Jewelry is a great resource for finding out more about justice in the trade. Just as you start to second guess the diamonds in your jewelry box, just know that steps are being taken to right the wrongs and you can help out to by reaching out to retailers and the diamond industry to keep this issue a pressing matter.