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“A DIAMOND IS A REBELS BEST FRIEND”: BLOOD DIAMONDS AND
TRANSNATIONAL ACTIVISM
PRESENTED BY: SANA SAGHIRCLASS: MPHIL (SEM: III)
COURSE: NSA
WHAT IS A BLOOD DIAMOND?
A blood diamond is a diamond mined in a war zone and sold to pay for illegal activity such as: insurgency, invading armies or a warlords activity.
OTHER NAMES:• Conflict diamond• Converted diamond• Hot diamond• War diamond
WHERE ARE BLOOD DIAMONDS?
• Angola
• Sierra Leone
• Cote d’Ivoire
• Republic of Congo
• Zimbabwe
SOURCE: Http://geology.com/articles/blood-diamonds.shtml
A DIAMOND IN THE MAKING
Methods of mining:
• Open pit mining
• Underground mining
• Marine mining
• Alluvial miningSource: http://geology.com/articles/crater-of-diamonds/
DIAMOND DEPOSITS
• KIMBERLITE DEPOSITS
• ALLUVIAL DEPOSITS
MONOPOLOID PRACTICES
• By inviting single producers to join their monopoly channel.
• By over-flooding similar diamonds as that of the producers who refused to join.
• By buying and stock-piling diamonds to control supply.
SHIFT IN POLICY FRAMEWORK
SUPPLY MANAGEMENT MODEL (PRE-2000)
SUPPLIERS CHOICE
(POST-2000)
FALL FROM GRACE!
• Due to the discovery of over-flowing diamond mines in Canada and Russia in the 1990s, where the governments took upon themselves to control all mining activity with minimal external involvement.
• With distorted slogans “a diamond is a rebel’s best friend” challenged the dreamy image that DeBeers had been portraying.
• The miserable decline of the fur industry illustrates this argument. With PETAs (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) excessive advertising campaigns involving celebrities like “I’d rather go naked than to wear fur?” which actually featured many renowned celebrities of the time in nude for raising awareness against animal cruelty in fur farms and painful procedures for getting the fur . The anti-fur campaign had actually turned the tide for the fur industry as it afterwards experienced a remarkable decline.
ANGOLAN CIVIL WAR (1975-2000)
• POWER STRUGGLE BETWEEN MPLA (POPULAR MOVEMENT FOR THE LIBERATION OF ANGOLA) AND UNITA (NATIONAL UNION FOR TOTAL INDEPENDENCE OF ANGOLA)
• BATTLEGROUND FOR COLD-WAR
• OFFICIAL RECOGNITION THAT DIAMONDS WERE RESPONSIBLE FOR PROTRACTING THE CONFLICT
• UN RES. 1173, UN RES. 1176 banning Angolan Diamonds from entering international trade
• Blood diamonds were mixed with clean diamonds through smuggling into neighboring countries.
• Reckless role played by DeBeers in Angola
CIVIL WAR IN SIERRA LEONE (1991-2002)
• RUF (Revolutionary United Front) supported by Liberia’s Charles Taylor attempted to overthrow the government in 1991 which led to a civil war.
• 200,000 people killed, 2 million people displaced, ½ the female population was raped, tortured and were forced into sexual slavery
RIASED TO KILL!
Signature features:
• Chopping off arms, legs, ears and lips of people
• Recruitment of child soldiers as young as of 8 years
“shooting became as easy as drinking water”
-- ex- child soldier
CIVIL SOCIETY ACTIVISM
• GLOBAL WITNESS (UK based NGO)
‘A rough trade: The role of Companies and Governments in the Angolan conflict’
• PARTNERSHIP AFRICA CANADA (PAC)
‘The Heart of the Matter: Sierra Leone’
• Hyper-active media
KIMBERLEY PROCESS
• Initiated taken by the South African Government (2000) for bringing together all stakeholders
• TRIPARTITE SYSTEM: governments, diamond industry and civil society
• Demand: complete elimination of blood diamonds from international trade
• KIMBERLEY PROCESS CERTIFICATION SYSTEM (JAN, 1 2003):
A system of strong internal control should be created
A chain of custody system should be established
A system of effective tracking and monitoring system should be enhanced
An international database should be created (Feldman, 2003)
ALL THAT GLITTERS IS NOT ALWAYS A CLEAN DIAMOND
The term blood diamond was defined by the UN as:
“Diamonds that originate from areas controlled by forces or factions opposed to legitimate and internationally recognized
governments, and are used to fund military action in opposition to those governments, or
in contravention of the decisions of the Security Council." (CNN, 2011; Armstrong)
A DIAMOND IS FOREVER. IS IT?
SOURCE:www.therichest.com
