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Create a new document and edit with others at the same time -- from your computer, phone or tablet. Get stuff done with or without an internet connection. Use Docs to edit Word files. Free from Google.

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This source helps my research because it describes the abuse that the workers went through. And how the blood diamonds caused lots of problems.

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Diamonds are supposed to be symbols of love, commitment, and joyful new beginnings. But for many people in diamond-rich countries, these sparkling stones are more a curse than a blessing. Too often, the world's diamond mines produce not only diamonds - but also civil wars, violence, worker exploitation, environmental degradation, and unspeakable human suffering.

Not long ago, the public started to become aware that large numbers of diamonds are mined in violent and inhumane settings. Consumers are now demanding, with ever greater urgency, that their diamonds be untouched by bloodshed and human rights abuses. So far, however, the diamond industry's response has been woefully inadequate. Diamonds with violent histories are still being mined and allowed to enter the diamond supply, where they become indistinguishable from other gems. Violence and injustice remain an everyday aspect of diamond mining.

Fueling Civil Wars

In just the past two decades, seven African countries have endured brutal civil conflicts fueled by diamonds: Sierra Leone, Liberia, Angola, the Republic of Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, the Central African Republic, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.Violence
Diamonds intensify civil wars by financing militaries and rebel militias.

still plagues
many diamond mines
in Africa,
with armed groups
using force to
seize or control
diamond wealth. Rival groups also fight with each other to control diamond-rich territory. The tragic result is bloodshed, loss of life, and shocking human rights abuses - from rape to the use of child soldiers.

Diamonds that fuel civil wars are often called "blood" or "conflict" diamonds. Although many diamond-fueled wars have now ended, conflict diamonds remain a serious problem. In 2013, a civil war erupted in the Central African Republic, with both sides fighting over the country's diamond resources. Thousands of people have died and more than a million have been displaced. In addition, past wars fueled by diamonds have taken about 3.7 million lives. Millions of people are still dealing with the consequences of these wars: friends and family members lost, lives shattered, and physical and emotional scars that will last generations.

Further Reading

CBS News

Diamonds, a War's Best Friend

History Channel documentary

Blood Diamonds

Amnesty International

Conflict Diamonds

YouTube

Blood Diamond (movie trailer)

Violence by Governments

Diamond mining is plagued by shocking violence, from killings to sexual violence to torture. Often, rebel groups are responsible for this violence. But governments and mining companies also commit atrocities in Africa's diamond fields, frequently in countries that are not at war. At Brilliant Earth, we believe it is important to end all violence related to diamond mining, regardless of the circumstances.

The diamond industry's attempt to fight blood diamonds led to the establishment of the Kimberley Process, an international diamond certification scheme, in 2003. Unfortunately, the Kimberley Process only places a ban on rough diamonds that finance rebel militias in war-torn countries. When diamond miners are killed or physically harmed by their own governments, or by security guards working for mining companies, the Kimberley Process rarely takes action. Instead, it certifies these diamonds as conflict free and allows them to be shipped to consumers worldwide.

Further Reading

Wall Street Journal

The Blood Diamond Resurfaces

Reuters

Army abuses Zimbabweans to control diamond fields - Human Rights Watch

The Guardian

Blood Diamond Trail Leads to Loopholes in Kimberley Process

Central African Republic

A dangerous mix of diamonds, religious tensions, and poverty has sparked a civil war in the Central African Republic. In 2013, a mostly Muslim rebel group launched an attack on the capital, Bangui, from the north. Rebels overthrew the country's dictator and seized valuable diamond fields. Christian militias counter-attacked, killing thousands of Muslims who had nothing to do with the rebels.

The Central African Republic is now being torn apart by militias who are fighting over diamonds and other resources. The death toll is rising and more than a million people have fled their homes. About 100,000 people live in a refugee camp at the Bangui airport. Although the Kimberley Process has banned diamond exports from the Central African Republic, the country's diamonds are easily smuggled across its borders and sold to international consumers.

Further Reading

NPR

Jewels Lie Benath the Violence in the Central African Republic

Enough Project

Behind the Headlines: Drivers of Violence in the Central African Republic

Zimbabwe

Even after killings, torture, and outrageous human rights abuses in Zimbabwe's diamond industry, Zimbabwe has been welcomed into the community of diamond producing nations.

In 2008, the Zimbabwean army seized the valuable Marange diamond deposit in eastern Zimbabwe, massacring more than 200 diamond miners who stood in the way. Soldiers then enslaved local adults and children in the diamond fields, beating and torturing those who disobeyed. An estimated $2 billion in diamond wealth disappeared, mostly into the hands of military leaders and allies of President Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe's dictator.

The army now has put private companies in charge of mining. But community members are still being beaten and killed, relocated families live in poverty, corruption continues, and nobody has been held accountable for past crimes. Meanwhile, the Kimberley Process has decided that these circumstances are acceptable. Although it banned Zimbabwean diamonds in 2009, it lifted the ban in 2011 despite revelations that the army was running torture camps for diamond miners.

Further Reading

Soldiers tell of army diamond field massacre

Reuters

Army abuses Zimbabweans to control diamond fields - Human Rights Watch

Angola

More than ten years after the end of a brutal diamond-funded civil war, Angola is now a member of the Kimberley Process and the world's fourth largest diamond exporter. But a flourishing diamond trade has not made Angola a more responsible diamond producer. Angola's diamond fields are once again the scene of horrific violence.

In recent years, diamond miners from the neighboring Democratic Republic of the Congo have been streaming into northeast Angola to mine for diamonds. Most miners cross the border illegally and do not have legal permission to mine. Angolan soldiers, along with security guards for mining companies, have been brutally cracking down on these foreign migrants as well as on local Angolan miners. Soldiers routinely demand bribes, beating and killing miners who do not cooperate. They also have been rounding up tens of thousands of migrants each year and expelling them across the border, raping many of the women first.

Angola's dictatorship has refused to acknowledge these problems. Instead, it has filed criminal defamation charges against a journalist who documented more than 100 murders and the torture of more than 500 people in two diamond mining towns. The Kimberley Process has ignored the issue too. Rather than expel Angola, the Kimberley Process has picked Angola to serve as its leader in 2015.

Further Reading

Human Rights Watch

Angola: Stop Rape, Abuse of Congolese Migrants

The Economist

Bad Neighbours

Wall Street Journal

The Blood Diamond Resurfaces

Human Rights Watch

Angola: Defamation Laws Silence Journalists

Côte D'Ivoire

For nearly a decade, diamonds helped keep Côte d'Ivoire a divided nation. In 2004, a violent civil war in Côte d'Ivoire reached a stalemate. Rebels controlled the diamond-rich north while the government controlled the south. To prevent diamonds from funding the conflict, the Kimberley Process and the United Nations placed a ban on the export of Côte d'Ivoire's diamonds in 2005.

Rebels, however, did not abide by the ban. Every year, rebels smuggled about $20 million worth of diamonds into neighboring countries, exchanging these diamonds for weapons and strengthening their grip on the north. In 2010, a disputed presidential election led to a constitutional crisis. Rebel soldiers swept southward in support of Alassane Ouattara, their preferred candidate and the rightful election winner. In the months of fighting that followed, at least 3,000 people were killed and atrocities were committed by both sides.

Ouattara took office in 2012 and the violence now appears to be over. The United Nations lifted its ban on Côte d'Ivoire's diamonds in 2014. For the first time in years, the country has a chance to use its diamond wealth for peaceful economic development. But memories of war, and the destructive power of diamonds, will not soon be forgotten.

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Diamonds are supposed to be symbols of love, commitment, and joyful new beginnings. But for many people in diamond-rich countries, these sparkling stones are more a curse than a blessing. Too often, the world's diamond mines produce not only diamonds - but also civil wars, violence, worker exploitation, environmental degradation, and unspeakable human suffering.

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This source supports my research because it explains how blood diamonds started problems and how they caused many to suffer.

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Home " Minerals " Diamond " Blood Diamonds

What is the Kimberly Process?

What Are "Blood Diamonds"?

The movie Blood Diamond traces the path of a large pink diamond found in Sierra Leone in the 1990s by a fisherman working as a slave in a rebel-controlled diamond mine. That diamond changed and ended many lives, and the story of that stone carries a strong social message.

The story is interesting fiction, but it is based upon facts. The story can help you appreciate how a mineral resource can fuel the oppression and slaughter of thousands of people. This is not a first-time phenomenon. It happened before in Africa with ivory and gold.

What Are "Conflict Diamonds"?

Blood Diamonds, also known as "Conflict Diamonds," are stones that are produced in areas controlled by rebel forces that are opposed to internationally recognized governments. The rebels sell these diamonds, and the money is used to purchase arms or to fund their military actions.

Blood Diamonds are often produced through the forced labor of men, women and children. They are also stolen during shipment or seized by attacking the mining operations of legitimate producers. These attacks can be on the scale of a large military operation.

The stones are then smuggled into the international diamond trade and sold as legitimate gems. These diamonds are often the main source of funding for the rebels; however, arms merchants, smugglers, and dishonest diamond traders enable their actions. Enormous amounts of money are at stake, and bribes, threats, torture, and murder are modes of operation. This is why the term "blood diamonds" is used.

What is the "Kimberly Process"?

The flow of Conflict Diamonds has originated mainly from Sierra Leone, Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo, Liberia, and Ivory Coast. The United Nations and other groups are working to block the entry of conflict diamonds into the worldwide diamond trade.

Their approach has been to develop a government certification procedure known as the "Kimberly Process." This procedure requires each nation to certify that all rough diamond exports are produced through legitimate mining and sales activity.

All rough diamonds exported from these nations are to be accompanied by certificates. These certificates state that the diamonds were produced, sold, and exported through legitimate channels.

The certification process accounts for all rough diamonds, through every step of their movement, from mine to retail sale. Retail customers buying a cut diamond are encouraged to insist upon a sales receipt that documents that their diamond originated from a conflict-free source.

"Conflict-Free Diamonds"

Nations who agree to participate in the Kimberly process are not permitted to trade with nonmember Nations. The Kimberly Process is believed to have significantly reduced the number of Conflict Diamonds that are reaching international gem markets. Today 81 governments and several non-government organizations abide by the Kimberly Process. The only two nations which remain under Kimberly Process sanctions as of December, 2006 were Liberia and Ivory Coast. The World Diamond Council estimates that 99% of all diamonds are now conflict-free.

Legitimate Diamond Trade

The legitimate diamond trade provides jobs for over 10 million workers and brings prosperity to areas where this activity occurs. Support of the Kimberly Process by all nations and consumers can convert slavery into jobs and smuggling into respected commerce. The efforts are working. Today, almost all of the diamonds brought to retail markets come from conflict-free sources.

Find Other Topics on Geology.com:

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Blood Diamonds | Conflict Diamonds | Kimberly Process

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Home " Minerals " Diamond " Blood Diamonds The movie Blood Diamond traces the path of a large pink diamond found in Sierra Leone in the 1990s by a fisherman working as a slave in a rebel-controlled diamond mine. That diamond changed and ended many lives, and the story of that stone carries a strong social message.

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This source supports my research because it explains the harsh conditions.

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blood diamond, also called conflict diamond, as defined by the United Nations (UN), any diamond that is mined in areas controlled by forces opposed to the legitimate, internationally recognized government of a country and that is sold to fund military action against that government. The very specif…

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This source helps support my research because it takes you through a 15 year olds point of view. It explains how harsh the conditions are and how his family struggles with money.

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It's been 15 years since the global effort to ban conflict diamonds began. But the industry is still tainted by conflict and misery

ax Rodriguez knows exactly how he is going to propose marriage to his long-term boyfriend, Michael Loper. He has booked a romantic bed-and-breakfast. He has found, using Google Earth, a secluded garden where he plans to take Loper for a sunset walk. The only thing that troubles him is the issue of the ring. Rodriguez has heard about how diamonds fuel distant conflicts, about the miserable conditions of the miners who wrest the stones from the earth, and he worries. The 34-year-old slips on a gold signet-style ring in the 12th-floor showroom of Vale Jewelry in New York City's diamond district. "I don't want a symbol of our union to also be associated with chaos and controversy and pain," says Rodriguez.

To Mbuyi Mwanza, a 15-year-old who spends his days shoveling and sifting gravel in small artisanal mines in southwest Democratic Republic of Congo, diamonds symbolize something much more immediate: the opportunity to eat. Mining work is grueling, and he is plagued by backaches, but that is nothing compared with the pain of seeing his family go hungry. His father is blind; his mother abandoned them several years ago. It's been three months since Mwanza last found a diamond, and his debts-for food, for medicine for his father-are piling up. A large stone, maybe a carat, could earn him $100, he says, enough to let him dream about going back to school, after dropping out at 12 to go to the mines-the only work available in his small village. He knows of at least a dozen other boys from his community who have been forced to work in the mines to survive.

Mwanza's mine, a ruddy gash on the banks of a small stream whose waters will eventually reach the Congo River, is at the center of one of the world's most important sources of gem-quality diamonds. Yet the provincial capital, Tshikapa, betrays nothing of the wealth that lies beneath the ground. None of the roads are paved, not even the airport runway. Hundreds of miners die every year in tunnel collapses that are seldom reported because they happen so often. Teachers at government schools demand payment from students to supplement their meager salaries. Many parents choose to send their teenagers to the mines instead. "We do this work so we can find something that will let us eat," says Mwanza. "When I find a stone, I eat. There is no money left for school."

Mwanza and Rodriguez are on opposite ends of an $81.4 billion-a-year industry that links the mines of Africa, home to 65% of the world's diamonds, with the sparkling salesrooms of high-end jewelry retailers around the world. It is an industry that was supposed to be cleaned up, after the turn-of-the-millennium notoriety surrounding so-called blood or conflict diamonds-precious stones mined in African war zones, often by forced labor, and used to fund armed rebel movements. In 2003 the diamond industry established the Kimberley Process, an international certification system designed to reassure consumers that the diamonds they bought were conflict-free. But more than 10 years later, while the process did reduce the number of conflict diamonds on the market, it remains riddled with loopholes, unable to stop many diamonds mined in war zones or under other egregious circumstances from being sold in international markets. And as Mwanza's life demonstrates, diamond mining even outside a conflict area can be brutal work, performed by low-paid, sometimes school-age miners. "It's a scandal," says Zacharie Mamba, head of Tshikapa's mining division. "We have so much wealth, yet we stay so poor. I can understand why you Americans say you don't want to buy our diamonds. Instead of blessings, our diamonds bring us nothing but misfortune."

Given the ugly realities of the diamond business, it would be tempting to forgo buying a diamond altogether, or to choose, as Rodriguez eventually did, to purchase a synthetic alternative. But Congolese mining officials say diamonds are a vital source of income-if not the only source-for an estimated 1 million small-scale, or artisanal, miners in Congo who dig by hand for the crystals that will one day adorn the engagement ring of a bride- or groom-to-be. "If people stop buying our diamonds, we won't be able to eat," says Mwanza. "We still won't be able to go to school. How does that help us?"

In an age of supply-chain transparency, when a $4 latte can come with an explanation of where the coffee was grown and how, even luxury goods like diamonds are under pressure to prove that they can be sustainable. The Kimberley Process has gone some of the way, yet a truly fair-trade system would not only ban diamonds mined in conflict areas but also allow conscientious consumers to buy diamonds that could improve the working and living conditions of artisanal miners like Mwanza. But the hard truth is that years after the term blood diamond breached the public consciousness, there is almost no way to know for sure that you're buying a diamond without blood on it.

he Kimberley Process grew out of a 2000 meeting in Kimberley, South Africa, when the world's major diamond producers and buyers met to address growing concerns, and the threat of a consumer boycott, over the sale of rough, uncut diamonds to fund the brutal civil wars of Angola and Sierra Leone-inspiration for the 2006 film Blood Diamond. By 2003, 52 governments, as well as international advocacy groups, had ratified the scheme, establishing a system of diamond "passports" issued from the country of origin that would accompany every shipment of rough diamonds around the world. Countries that could not prove that their diamonds were conflict-free could be suspended from the international diamond trade.

The Kimberley Process was hailed as a major step toward ending diamond-fueled conflict. Ian Smillie, one of the early architects of the process and an authority on conflict diamonds, estimates that only 5% to 10% of the world's diamonds are traded illegally now compared with 25% before 2003, a huge boon for producing nations that have a better chance at earning an income off their natural resources.

But Smillie and other critics argue that the Kimberley Process doesn't go far enough. Unfair labor practices and human-rights abuses don't disqualify diamonds under the protocol, while the definition of conflict is so narrow as to exclude many instances of what consumers would, using common sense, think of as a conflict diamond. Conflict diamonds under the Kimberley Process are defined as gemstones sold to fund a rebel movement attempting to overthrow the state-and only that. So when, in 2008, the Zimbabwean army seized a major diamond deposit in eastern Zimbabwe and massacred more than 200 miners, it was not considered a breach of the Kimberley Process protocols. "Thousands had been killed, raped, injured and enslaved in Zimbabwe, and the Kimberley Process had no way to call those conflict diamonds because there were no rebels," says Smillie.

Even in some cases where the Kimberley Process has implemented a ban-as in the Central African Republic (CAR), where diamonds have helped fund a genocidal war that has killed thousands since 2013-conflict diamonds are still leaking out. A U.N. panel of experts estimates that 140,000 carats of diamonds-with a retail value of $24 million-have been smuggled out of the country since it was suspended in May 2013. The Enough Project, an organization dedicated to ending resource-based violence in Africa, estimated in a June report that armed groups raise $3.87 million to $5.8 million a year through the taxation of and illicit trade in diamonds.

Many of those diamonds are likely being smuggled across the border to Congo, where they are given Kimberley Process certificates before being traded internationally. "The Central African Republic is a classic case of blood diamonds, exactly what the Kimberley Process was intended to address," says Michael Gibb of Global Witness, a U.K.-based NGO that advocates for the responsible use of natural resources. "The fact that CAR diamonds are making it to international markets is a clear demonstration that the Kimberley Process on its own is not going to be able to deal with this kind of problem." (Representatives of the Congolese body in charge of issuing Kimberley Process certificates deny that CAR diamonds are being laundered through Congo, but mining-ministry officials admit that it is all but impossible to police the country's 1,085-mile [1,746 km] border with the Central African Republic.)

Many countries, industry leaders and international organizations-including the U.S.-based World Diamond Council, the major industry trade group-have lobbied to expand the Kimberley Process definition of conflict diamonds to include issues of environmental impact, human-rights abuses and fair labor practices. They've made little progress. (One reason: any changes to the criteria must be made by consensus. Many countries, including Russia, China and Zimbabwe, have resisted inserting human-rights language that might threaten national interests.) They are instead taking it upon themselves to ensure the integrity of the diamond supply chain and assuage consumer doubts.

Tiffany & Co., Signet and De Beers' Forevermark brand have instituted strict sourcing policies for their diamonds that address many of these concerns. In New York next March, jewelry-industry executives from around the world will meet for an unprecedented 2½-day conference on responsible sourcing in an attempt to hammer out an industry-wide process as transparent as the one that brings fair-trade coffee to Starbucks. "Why shouldn't we be able to trace a much more valuable and more emotionally laden product?" asks Beth Gerstein, who in 2005 co-founded Brilliant Earth, one of the first jewelry companies to make responsible sourcing a selling point.

Ava Bai, one of the twin-sibling designers behind New York's Vale Jewelry, believes the desire of millennials to shop according to their ethics has also helped pushed the industry to embrace sustainability. Fine-jewelry sales in the U.S.-the world's biggest retail diamond market-have stagnated, growing only 1.9% from 2004 to 2013, even as other luxury items, like fine wines and electronics, have gone up by more than 10%. "Millennial consumers are looking for more than the 4Cs [the classic Cut, Carat, Clarity and Color]," says Linnette Gould, head of media relations for De Beers, which launched its Forevermark diamond brand in the U.S. in 2011 with a commitment to responsible sourcing. "They want a guarantee that it is ethical. They want to know about environmental impact. They want to know about labor practices. They want to know that the communities have benefited from the diamonds they are mining." For its part, Vale deals directly with one family that does the buying, cutting and polishing. Their buyer sources diamonds from South African and Indian mines-generally considered more sustainable-and the Bai twins plan to visit the South African mine next year.

That kind of supply-chain management takes significant effort and trust, because even experts can't tell the origins of a diamond simply by looking at it. An experienced gemologist might be able to tell the difference between a handful of rough diamonds from an industrial South African pit mine and those from a Congolese alluvial mine like the one where Mwanza labors. But those differences disappear as a diamond moves up the value chain. "Despite the concern from the public and within the industry about these so-called illicit diamonds and conflict diamonds, there is no scientific or technical way to tell where diamonds came from once they are cut," says Wuyi Wang, director of research and development at the Gemological Institute of America. Laundering a conflict diamond from a place like the Central African Republic is as simple as cutting it. "That is why traceability from the mines is critical," says Wang.

ut the idea of complete chain of custody falls apart in Congo's tens of thousands of alluvial mines. Some 18 miles (29 km) from Mwanza's creek-side site, more than 100 men labor at the much larger Kangambala mine. They have spent four months shoveling away 50 feet (15 m) of rock and dirt to expose the diamond-bearing gravel below. None are paid for the labor; they work only for the opportunity to find diamonds. Knee-deep in water pumped from the nearby river, three men sluice pans of gravel through small sieves. One gives an excited yelp, fishes out a sliver of diamond the size of a peppercorn and hands it to an overseer sitting in the shade of a striped umbrella. The overseer folds it into a piece of paper torn from a cigarette pack and puts it in his pocket. It's worth maybe $10, he says. That find will be split between the owner of the mine site, who gets 70% of the value, and the 10 members of the sluicing team, who have been working since 9 a.m. and will continue until the sun sets around 6 p.m. If they are lucky they will find two or three such slivers in a day.

The day's findings will be collected and sold to an itinerant buyer. He in turn will sell his purchases up the chain to one of the more established agents, who will collate several packets before making the journey to Tshikapa, where the streets are lined with small shop fronts adorned with hand-painted images of diamonds and dollar signs.

Two days later a young diamond merchant ducks into Funji Kindamba's storefront office. He spills a fistful of greasy yellow and gray stones onto Kindamba's desk. With the help of large tweezers, Kindamba pushes the diamonds into piles with a practiced flick of his wrist, separating out the large ones from the tiny diamonds used in pavé work, where small stones are set very closely together. Eventually they come to an agreement on a price: $200. Kindamba notes down the seller's name, the price he paid and the total carat weight for the whole packet-4.5-in a small notebook. Kindamba has no idea where the diamonds come from. "There are thousands of mines," he says with a laugh. "It's impossible to keep track."

Diamond-industry experts like to say a packet of diamonds will change hands on average eight to 10 times between the country of export and its final destination. The reality is that diamonds from the mines outside Tshikapa are likely to change hands eight to 10 times before they even leave the province for the capital, Kinshasa, the only place where Congolese diamonds can be certified for export. Kindamba's diamonds will be sold on at least twice before they reach a licensed buyer where a representative from the Ministry of Mines can assess the value and furnish the official form required to obtain the Kimberley certificate. On the line noting the location of the mine, it will simply say Tshikapa.

Given the near impossibility of tracing diamonds to their source in countries like Congo, where artisanal mining predominates, jewelers who want a more transparent supply chain usually buy from mining companies like De Beers or Rio Tinto, which control all aspects of the process from exploration to cutting and selling. Others source only from countries with good human-rights records. Brilliant Earth, for example, buys most of its diamonds from Canada. "The unfortunate reality is that there are so many problems that have to be solved before we can offer fair-trade diamonds from the Congo," says Gerstein.

It's a delicate balancing act. On the one hand, companies need to understand enough about their supply chains to assure customers that child-labor issues, environmental degradation or human-rights abuses do not taint their jewelry. But while the easiest way to do that is by simply boycotting certain countries, abstaining won't make those problems disappear. In a desperately poor country like Congo-where over half the population lives on less than $1.25 a day-things could actually get worse. "Artisanal miners in Africa are actually becoming victims of our desire to do right by diamond miners," says Bai.

According to Congo's Ministry of Mines, nearly 10% of the population relies on income from diamonds, and the country produces about a fifth of the world's industrial diamonds. Diamonds may bring problems, but rejecting them outright would bring even more, says Albert Kiungu Muepu, the provincial head of a Congolese NGO that, with the help of the Ottawa-based Diamond Development Initiative (DDI), is organizing miners into collectives-the first step toward establishing fair-trade diamonds. A boycott "will not change diamonds of misfortune into diamonds of joy overnight," he says. "If those who want to do good stop buying our diamonds, rest assured, Congo still loses. The way to better conditions in Congo is to help us better our system so that the resources generated by Congo can profit Congo."

Organizing miners into cooperatives is a key step in the process, much as it was for turning exploited coffee farmers into partners in fair trade. Not only can cooperatives pool resources for better mining equipment, they also can share knowledge and set prices according to global markets, rather than on the basis of what local buyers are offering. But unless the Kimberley Process, or some other internationally agreed-upon certification system, can assuage growing concerns about human-rights abuses, environmental impacts and fair labor practices around mining-while ensuring that tainted diamonds stay out of the marketplace-conscientious consumers may stay away.

Ironically, it is the company that has been the most outspoken about the evils of diamond mining that is doing the most to help Congolese miners right now. Brilliant Earth, with the help of DDI and Muepu's NGO, has funded a school to get children like 12-year-old Kalala Ngalamume out of the mines and back into class. When his father died of malaria last year, it looked as if Ngalamume would be joining his neighbor Mwanza in the mines. Instead he was picked as one of the first 20 students in the Brilliant Mobile School pilot program, based on his age, his previous schooling and the fact that he was at risk of going to work in the mines. "Without school, I know I would have to do whatever it took to survive, even go looking for diamonds," he says. But hundreds more children in his village are still at risk. "We need to do something so that all these children have an opportunity to be educated, so they won't be poor, so they can do something with their lives."

o how can a concerned consumer buy a diamond in a way that actually helps people like Mwanza and Ngalamume? Asking questions can go a long way. Responsible jewelers should know every step in the path from mine to market. Kimberley Process certification alone isn't enough-as of now the system is too limited. Diamonds that come from Zimbabwe and Angola are particularly problematic. Watchdog groups have documented human-rights abuses in and around mines in those countries, though exports from both nations are allowed under the Kimberley Process-another loophole in the system.

While buying diamonds from a conflict-free country like Canada can buy you a clean conscience, a better bet may be African countries like Botswana and Namibia. Governments in both countries have a solid record of working with both the industrial mining industry and artisanal miners to enforce strong labor and environmental standards. Sierra Leone-the setting for much of the film Blood Diamond -has improved as well, though the country's recent Ebola outbreak set back some of that progress.

Consumers who care can trace the fish on their plate back to the patch of sea it was taken from. They can choose fair-trade apparel that benefits the cotton farmers and seamstresses who produced their clothing. But the lineage of one of the most valuable products that many consumers will ever buy in their lifetime remains shrouded in uncertainty, and too often the people who do the arduous work of digging those precious stones from the earth are the ones who benefit the least. The only way that the blood will finally be washed away from conflict diamonds is if there is a true fair-trade-certification process that allows conscientious consumers to buy Congo's artisanal diamonds with peace of mind-just as they might a cup of coffee.

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It's been 15 years since the global effort to ban conflict diamonds began, but the industry is still tainted by conflict and misery