More About Diamonds: Conflict Diamonds

Diamonds are small, valuable, and easily concealed. The perfect target for smugglers. In the late 1990s, the world learned that smuggled diamonds were funding murderous rebel armies in Angola and Sierra Leone. These stones became known as “conflict diamonds” or “blood diamonds.” Even though the vast majority of rough diamonds were going through legitimate channels, immediate action was needed to end the distribution of these blood diamonds.

In 2000, industry organizations began working with world governments, human rights groups, and the United Nations to create the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme, aimed at removing undocumented rough diamonds from the marketplace. According to this system, all rough diamonds had to be accompanied by a diamond certificate of origin issued by an approved agency. From that point, all the way to the consumer, it became mandatory that each diamond be accompanied by a document confirming its legitimate pedigree.

Unfortunately, the place where a diamond is found, and the fact that they can travel hundreds of miles from their true point of origin, makes it virtually impossible to know where a specific diamond originated. Because GIA only reports on what it knows, it does not report on point of origin.

The Kimberley Process took effect on January 1, 2003 and, by all accounts, it appears to be working. With the end of civil war in Angola and Sierra Leone, peace and stability have returned to those countries.