Tuesday, September 11, 2012
We still cannot be sure if we are buying "Blood Diamonds"
How timely! I just talked about this in my White Collar/Corporate Crime class today. How can you be 100% sure that your diamond is not a "Blood Diamond"? If interested in finding out about blood diamonds I invite you to my class on Thursday afternoon...AMB 105 from 1:30-2:45. Be sure and bring your diamonds if you want to dispose of them at the end of class. :)
http://worldpress.org/Africa/3903.cfm
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I find it very interesting that our society finds diamonds so valuable. As we saw in class on how far we will go to obtained these diamonds. For example, I believe most Americans are not aware of what goes in other countries. Also for the suppliers of the diamonds that are imported across the world. In other parts of the world diamonds are consider more important. It is very sad to see the suffering from the people who live there and mine these diamonds. In addition, how their own government treats them. In many of those countries, they have never had a consistent government that can make any changes. Due to the fact that diamonds influences how the government operates.
ReplyDeleteThe obsession people have with diamonds is hard for me to understand especially since I am not one who’s into jewelry in the first place, so spending a lot of money on diamonds seems outrageous to me. Obviously after seeing the video in class diamonds are really not so special/rare although the diamond industry would like to have us believe otherwise. There is a lot of diamonds except the flow of them on the market is controlled so that they can maintain their worth. I’m sure no one wants to buy a blood diamond but after reading the article it obviously hard to find out whether or
ReplyDeletenot the diamond you have is a blood diamond. The Kimberly Process Certification Scheme is supposed to certify that all rough diamond exports were produced through legitimate mining and sales activities and were conflict-free but even with that you cannot be certain because it only applies to rough diamonds. It was a good step that Global Witnesses took to publicly expose the international trade of blood diamonds and how it played a key role in establishing the KP. However, now they separated themselves from the Kimberley process because they refused to address the clear links between diamonds and violence goes to show it’s obviously still a problem. I think that as long as people value diamonds and think they are rare they is going to be people trying to mine for diamonds by legitimate or illegitimate means.
After being "educated" on this subject the wealth of information is overwhelmingly negative from what I can see any point of view. I always try to play the devil's advocate (like with the tobacco case) but with this, I really can't see how I'd put a good spin on it. However you did give a nice go at being positive but it just didn't seem to go too far. I just wonder how these jewelry stores assure their cusotmers they don't sell these blood diamonds. I mean really, should we take you at your word? Oh yeah, I forgot, we have pamphlets...silly me...we should believe them. I don't cherish any material item at this price.
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Based on the information in this article and information in class people that have diamonds and consider them special for a particular reason never truly know where they come from. Whether they are Blood Diamonds are not and if even they did know I think that people would not give up their diamonds. The Kimberley Process is not as concrete and reliable as it was intended, because of the lack of support. Also the fact that its only applies to rough diamonds, so stones that have already been cut and polished may have been conflict diamonds, but there is no way to trace this information. Maybe one day in the near future there will be a legitimate process with supporters that will be able to determine the history of a diamond, so the root of the problem can be stopped all together once and for all.
ReplyDeleteThe Kimberley Process (KP) has obviously failed to ensure that diamonds are not financing violence and corruption. Global Witness (GW), a key player in establishing the KP, has pulled out of the KP, and this action speaks volumes. GW’s very existence as a non-government organization is to work to break links between natural resource corruption and human rights abuse. The entire KP has turned into nothing more than a ruse in which some members just want the situation to look like they really care. This thing was a sham from the very beginning. When looking at all the corrupt countries that are members of the KP and learning that it takes only one or two to veto any punitive actions against a member who breaks the rules, the cause is lost before it even starts. If that’s not bad enough, the KP is backed by the United Nations.
ReplyDeleteWhen the KP approved the corrupt government of Zimbabwe to export unlimited numbers of diamonds, it showed their total lack of any seriousness in ever controlling blood diamonds anywhere. The poor people in Zimbabwe are doomed by a government that will use this revenue for oppression and murder to maintain its power. There may have been some who thought the KP was a good idea, but they were only fooling themselves.
Well, Global Witness (GW) played a key factor in the Kimberly Process Certification process. Global Witness (GW) says they have stopped international trade in blood diamonds. They have also stated that each of their shipments will carry a certificate of where, how and the processing of their diamonds. After, seeing the video in class diamonds are not so scare or rare as they make them out to be and are overly advertised and are very costly. There is so much financing violence and government corruption that you can’t really tell if you are buying blood diamonds or not. By people continuing to buy diamonds we also play a role in the demand for diamonds. This will cost someone’s life by this corruption and the risk of mine workers.
ReplyDelete"The idea is that members of the Kimberley Process cannot trade with non-members." This is a direct quote from the article. In essence what they did was to create a legal and world recognized guild which ensured that the little man, the independent businessman, cannot get his foot in the door. And you can claim that they wanted to stop the wholesale murder that has been perpetrated because of the diamonds, but we all know better...or should. Do you honestly believe that they would somehow stop being greedy and become moral all of a sudden? It is all about the MONEY.
ReplyDelete"Despite the fact that the KP has 75 member countries, it has no permanent secretariat, no funding and no central repository of knowledge or ongoing institutional capacity. This has led to a lack of continuity between chairmanships. The KP chair which rotates amongst the member countries on an annual basic has insufficient monitoring and a slow response to crisis situations. The KP doesn’t have the capacity to consistently and effectively follow up on issues of concern, and needs a professional, independent technical body to support progress on administrative matters, monitoring, and statistical and legal analysis."
That paragraph, also from the article, shows that they could care less about enforcing any rules. They can't even form some type of functional structure. It is all about economics and control of a certain scarce commodity. 75 member countries in the KP who only do business with each other and who are backed by very wealthy diamond families. They pay the "savages" a fraction of what the diamonds sell for at Zale's and could care less about how they go about delivering the product. Money and politics but money above all.
It is sad to see, or disturbing to find out that something that has been made to symbolize love, really symbolizes war, murder, violence, and greed. I think that Global Witness made a wise decision in departing from the Kimberly process. This process was meant to stop the trade of “Blood Diamonds”. But, the only thing it has done is put up a smoke screen to make people think that something is being done about diamonds and human rights abuses. In my opinion, I think the public should be made aware of what is going on, and the true meaning of the “Blood Diamond”. It may not make a big difference, but knowledge is power.
ReplyDeleteI wasnt aware of where diamonds really came from, and now have a totally different view on them. I think that it is a sad thing that not more people, including myself, knew or know about this. Also i know that even if people knew about where diamonds really came from, they'd still buy them, and want the biggest one out there. People are greedy and dont care about things that they dont have to deal with themselves. This isnt going to stop anyone from buying diamonds, but i do wish that something could seriously be done to stop this violence over a rock, but with all the corruption and what not, I think this would only happen in a perfect world.
ReplyDeleteI never really knew where the diamonds exectly come from, i watched a bunch of movies about the diamonds where the mob or some other organized crime is controlling a diamond mine and thean selling the diamonds to the western world. There is always going to be problem whenever there is a diamond, there are one of the most expensive rocks ever and they are also very solid material. There is always ging to be greed in this world so i dont think that blood diamond war is going to end any time soon.
ReplyDeleteDiamonds and the origins has been an issue for me especially after recently becoming engaged. I do not have a ring yet, and it bothers me that I could be given something a person in Africa slaved over or was killed to gain. There truly is not a way of knowing whether or not a diamond was a blood diamond and I hope that this article does bring attention to the problems of the Kimberly process.
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