What are blood diamonds?
They are by far the most-valued piece of jewelry today. Many admire and covet diamonds throughout their entire lifetime. It is a symbol of value and love. If you are planning on getting married, a diamond-ring is essential. Diamonds can be mined all around the world. Finding diamonds takes hours of tireless work under very harsh conditions. When we buy diamonds for a loved one or for ourselves, we seem to not even care where they have come from, as long it is not fake. For many years, blood diamonds continuously find a way to entire the market, due to the greed of many. Blood diamonds, aka conflict diamonds, are diamonds that are mined in a war zone and sold to support a war or fight. This usually occurs in Africa, where countries support their wars through the sale of diamonds mined. The 2006 film, Blood Diamond, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, is a depiction of these situations in Africa. There has been tremendous progress over the years in trying to limit the sale of conflict diamonds,
What is a Blood Diamond? The term “blood diamond” refers to diamonds that come from war zones in Africa, and sold (typically illegally) in order to fund insurgent war efforts against legitimate and internationally recognized governments. These rebel factions trade diamonds with illicit arms dealers to fund their military action in opposition to those governments. Millions of deaths are linked to the rebel wars and trafficking of these gems. Labor Exploitation Labor exploitation has also been linked to blood diamonds. The scenes from Leonardo DiCaprio’s Blood Diamond the movie isn’t too far from the truth where African miners are exposed to atrocious living conditions and even worse working conditions. They don’t have shoes, gloves, hard hats or flashlights, and their tools – picks, ropes – are simple and do nothing to relieve the back-breaking work. Mine shafts are unsecured and very dangerous. Accidents are frequent and many miners have been buried alive in these pits. At the end of a
