Submit Your Articles Free: Signup
Remember Me
forgot your password?

What is a Conflict Diamond?

  • Related Videos
  • Related Articles
  • Related Q&A

Who hasn't heard of the slogan "A diamond lasts forever"? Diamonds have always occupied a very high status in the world of jewelry. Fueled by tradition and intense marketing campaigns, diamonds have achieved incomparable status. Starry eyed young men present gorgeous diamond rings to their girlfriends. Married couples exchange diamond studded jewelry over the years as symbols to their undying love. Celebrities and personalities don fabulous diamond jewelry whenever they go out in public. There is absolutely no doubt as to how valuable and sought after diamonds are.

As with most things in life, there is always something bad mixed with the good. A diamond may be a woman's best friend but a diamond can also be the bane of some people's existence - and I am not talking about the man's pocket here. The term conflict diamonds, or blood diamonds as others call it, became quite well-known to the average person in 2002 when the James Bond movie "Die Another Day" was released. This contribution to the legendary James Bond saga revolved around the idea of smuggling blood diamonds.
So what is a conflict diamond? The UN formally defines a conflict diamond as a "diamond that originates from areas controlled by forces or factions opposed to legitimate and internationally recognized governments, and are used to fund military action in opposition to those governments, or in contravention of the decisions of the Security Council." In short, a conflict diamond is any diamond that is mined from an area in which there is war, or armed conflict. The idea is that diamonds are very much in demand and that they fetch such a high price in almost any market. If you mine diamonds and sell them to other countries - of which there is definitely no shortage - you can get a large amount of money for them. Where does the profit from these sales go?

You guessed it - to finance wars and other forms of armed conflict in the affected areas. The manner of mining and selling blood diamonds is usually done in secret. You can just imagine what the reaction of the (average) buyer would be if he learned that he was financing a war somewhere in Africa with his transaction. Thus, people involved in the conflict diamond business do not really advertise what they are doing.
Although these activities have been going on for quite some time, it was only in 2000 that the international community formally recognized the gravity of the situation. In December of that year, the United Nations General Assembly recognized the role of rough diamonds in furthering the conflicts in specific areas in Africa. The General Assembly came up with a resolution aiming to severe the connection between the illegal sales of diamonds and wars in concerned areas.

With this resolution in place, countries that buy diamonds from Africa became more aware of the illicit trade. International sanctions were then put in place. In addition to these sanctions, individual countries set up their own methods and processes to curb the practice of trading conflict diamonds. The idea is that if no one will buy, then no one will sell. People who take advantage of conflict diamonds would have no market and thus the practice would stop.
We all know however, that in the real world, things are never as simple as they usually seem to be.

Shlomit G

Shlomit is a writer for Compucall-usa.com.To learn more about Blood Diamonds please visit:
http://www.stopblooddiamonds.org/

Rate this Article: 0 / 5 stars - 0 vote(s)
Print Email Re-Publish

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/advice-articles/what-is-a-conflict-diamond-112414.html
Add new Comment



Captcha
  • Latest Advice Articles
  • More from Shlomit G

How to Get a Bigger Butt

By: Kelly Buchanan | 03/12/2008
This article explains how to get a bigger butt. I have 20 years of experience in fitness instruction and this is a very hot topic in most of my classes.

Are Your Habits Working for or Against You? Identify the Patterns That May be Holding You Back

By: Victor Ghebre | 01/12/2008
Comprehensive analysis on how YOUR habits can make or break you, and the importance of being aware of your behavioral patterns.

Introduction to Subliminal Messaging - Part 1

By: Dan Bainbridge | 28/11/2008
An introduction to the power of subliminal messaging - how you can use it to benefit your life!

Proven Ways to Get Organized That Work Like Magic!

By: Gen Wright | 28/11/2008
Some people break out into a sweat and start to panic from a feeling of total overwhelm just at the thought of having to sort out their garage or home. Well, it is natural to feel this way if you have not had the help of experts to make sure you enjoyed the sense of satisfaction and pride you get from the job done well when you tried to get organized.

7 Tips to Boost Your Productivity

By: Praveen Kumar Tumma | 27/11/2008
Lot of the times many people feel that they are not performing up to the mark at both the personal and work life levels and looks out for the ways to boost their productivity. I personally felt this way many times and tried to find the ways to boost my productivity.Here are 7 simple steps to boost your productivity, which I follow and achieved good results following them.

How to Choose a Guide

By: Michal Ron | 26/11/2008
How to choose the person who will bring you where you want to be.

Achieve Your Ideal Life- Here's How

By: Bryan Appleton | 24/11/2008
What is your ideal life? What do you dream about doing with your life? Whatever your dream is, whether it is lying on a tropical beach or racing to a 3 alarm fire, is a success when you make it your reality.

Improve yourself and Your Life With These Easy Tips

By: Bryan Appleton | 24/11/2008
Many people have tried at one time in their lives and even more than once to improve themselves or to get wealthy or to succeed in business. If it doesn't work out right away, they give up. Why do they give up and why is it so hard for them to make these improvements or to gain success?

Nelson Mandela and Blood Diamonds

By: Shlomit G | 04/03/2007 | Advice
Nelson Mandela is going to act as a sort of spokesperson for DeBeers, an icon in the diamond industry. Supposedly, he will be asserting that blood diamonds no longer exist, or at least are no longer in circulation. In effect, he will be showing his full support to the existing – legal – diamond industry.

What you Can Do to Promote Conflict Free Diamonds

By: Shlomit G | 04/03/2007 | Advice
As a consumer you might feel that you cannot directly make an impact towards the resolution of this issue especially since diamonds are rare commodities and thus is something you can just stop buying. After all, the average person buys a diamond only once or twice in his lifetime. However, you can still make a difference.

Sierra Leone Conflict Diamonds

By: Shlomit G | 28/02/2007 | Education
Rough diamonds can be smuggled into a "clean" country. After that, there would be no way of knowing where the gems came from. There is always a willing market somewhere in another country. Sierra Leone diamonds are well-known among the jewelry world to be one of the best quality diamonds available today. This is perhaps the main reason that blood diamonds have wreaked the havoc they have had over so many years

International Terror and Blood Diamonds

By: Shlomit G | 28/02/2007 | Advice
Lest some people use the excuse of not being affected by blood diamonds for being complacent, we should be reminded that there is no such thing as an isolated incident. Everything is interconnected and eventually at some point, repercussions will affect everyone.

Iscsi Target Guide and Information

By: Shlomit G | 06/02/2007 | Computers
The immediate benefit of iSCSI is clear: no-cost/low-cost storage networking. The long term advantage of iSCSI is the flexibility it provides as a product of the cost, systems that you would never have imagined putting a Fibre Channel HBA in are now prime candidates for iSCSI and iSCSI targets.

Iscsi Hba - When to Use

By: Shlomit G | 01/02/2007 | Computers
It is possible to build a working iSCSI SAN with all of it features using standard Ethernet network interface cards (NICs) as the initiators, but it might not be the best plan to have an iSCSI SAN with out an iSCSI HBA.

Security Systems Guide

By: Shlomit G | 30/01/2007 | Advice
Owning and operating a security system is like having proactive insurance because you are taking an active part in protecting your property. The costs of security systems have to be weighed against the costs of your property.

Security Systems Most Asked Questions

By: Shlomit G | 30/01/2007 | Advice
For those people considering installing a security system these are the top questions that you need answered before making a purchase.

Article Categories




Use of this web site constitutes acceptance of the Terms Of Use and Privacy Policy | User published content is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
Copyright © 2005-2008 Free Articles by ArticlesBase.com, All rights reserved. (0.27, 12)