What has De Beers done about conflict diamonds?
At its peak, conflict diamonds accounted for a very small percentage of the global diamond trade. However the United Nations, Governments, NGOs, De Beers Group and the rest of the diamond industry recognised there was a need for a global system to prevent conflict diamonds from entering the legitimate diamond supply chain to fund conflict. This system would also reassure customers that their diamonds were from conflict free sources. This system was put in place and is called the Kimberley Process. Today more than 99% (99.8%) of the world’s diamonds are certified conflict free. De Beers Group finds it abhorrent that revenues from the sale of rough diamonds have been used in the past to fund rebel activities, and have a ‘zero tolerance’ policy towards conflict diamonds. In addition to the Kimberley Process, the De Beers Group, as the world’s largest trader of rough diamonds, has taken its own action. Through its Best Practice Principles, the De Beers Group will not buy or trade in diamon
