What are Ethical and Conflict-free Diamonds?

Diamonds are forever’, sang (Dame) Shirley Bassey in the opening credits to the James Bond romp of the same name.  However, far away from the world of 007’s car chases, casinos and very specific cocktails, diamonds have been forever controversial. By the mid-1980s, disgust at the South African apartheid regime had seen a 70th birthday tribute gig to the (still imprisoned) Nelson Mandela at Wembley, featuring stars from Bryan Adams to Tracy Chapman. One in four British households were boycotting South African goods. What was perhaps less well known is that the diamond mines that had made South Africa rich had also laid the foundation for the Apartheid regime in that country. Black farmers were taxed outrageously and driven off their lands into the mines. By the time DeBeers magnate and Cape Colony (as South Africa was then known) Prime Minister Cecil Rhodes died in 1902, South Africa had 90% of the world’s diamond production.

Conflict diamonds

Conflict diamonds - also known as blood diamonds - first came into common consciousness in 1998, when human rights org Global Witness uncovered evidence that diamonds were being sold to finance civil wars in Africa, notably in Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo and Sierra Leone. Diamonds were being mined at gunpoint or simply stolen, and the proceeds used to fund insurgent activity against governments. The United Nations announced in 2000 they wished to create a system of international certification for rough diamonds. The Kimberley Process Certification Scheme was announced in 2003, and signed into American law the same year. A total of 81 countries are now members of the scheme, including all of the major diamond exporting and importing nations. Diamond sellers must provide provenance that their diamonds have been produced in accordance with the United Nations mandate. Diamond industry members must maintain trade only with suppliers who include all necessary warranties, and refrain from purchasing from suspect suppliers, or from regions where governments have advised conflict diamonds may be originating from.

Ethical diamonds

It’s estimated that 99.8% of diamonds on the market now are conflict-free. Shopping with jewelers who are Kimberley Process-registered should put one’s mind at ease as to the sourcing of stones. However, clients often ask for more, particularly from bespoke jewelers. Lab-grown gems are an option. However while they will stay as brilliant as a mined diamond over the years, their value will tend to depreciate. If one is prepared to purchase premium, Canadian diamonds are mined to the highest ethical and environmental standards in the world, and laser-etched with identification numbers enabling instant verification of the product.

Settings

For most of us, diamonds are a pretty big purchase. The moves toward equity and sustainability that have been with us since the late 1990s when Fairtrade products started to appear on supermarket shelves have permeated far beyond our kitchens. Christmas shopping can often be fraught as we worry if someone will like our present – the rise in sustainable fashions and homewares enables thoughtful gifting that does good at each end of the equation. The purchase of jewelry can be approached in the same way. If Christmas can be stressful, imagine what it is like during a marriage proposal, or the myriad of planning that comes with the wedding day itself! So, it is important for the bridge and groom to look after their mental health leading up to the wedding. One way to do this, is by ensuring you know where the ring came from and that it was produced by ethical means, according to 77 Diamonds. If you create a to-do list, it can help you keep track of what’s been done. Being confident about the diamonds going on your finger may be a small comfort on your important day, but as the years go by and you’re still looking at the stone on a daily basis, it will help confirm that you got that choice right. 

It’s said that technology makes the world smaller. In 1968 we had to go to the cinema to hear Dame Shirley singing John Barry’s song. By 2006, we could watch Chicago rapper Lupe Fiasco sample it in his ‘Conflict Diamonds’ from our laptop, tablet or mobile. As that world gets smaller, we need to sustain it. Its most precious commodities are no different.