Blood Diamonds: May 2013

Blood Diamonds Then and Now

When Blood Diamonds were first a new business, people were still catching on and trying to take advantage of it. Now that it has gotten to a more extreme situation, we have been taking more precaution towards it. Blood Diamonds are a risky business, but now we are really making an effort in trying to fix it. Organizations have been contributing to helping the cause. One day Blood Diamonds will be under control

More Maps

Blood Diamond Country

Blood Diamonds are a bad influence to a country. Blood Diamonds are illegal in the global market, so when a country is a good source for diamonds, like Sierra Leone, they will not be able to sell those diamonds if there are Blood Diamond mining happening in that country. The country will not be able to get revenue from the diamonds they mine and poverty will rise. The country becomes scarier for tourists to visit because when there are Blood Diamond mining there is violence. The citizens of that country who are being forced to work in Blood Diamond mines will only be able to focus on diamond mining, which means education will plummet making the country less educated than it already is. Also the country will not be able to progress in anything else if everyone is focused in mining for diamonds and war.

Maps of Diamond Trade and Blood Diamond Trade

Blood Diamond Video

A video about Blood Diamonds in Africa

How Blood Diamonds Influence Warlords

Blood Diamonds are money and power to African Warlords. Forces will fight over them at all costs. Blood Diamonds are fuel to the warlord's power. They force slaves and workers to mine the diamonds up for personal gain. Rebel leaders and warlords do not have a single bit of compassion in their body. Even children are foreced to sift throught rivers and dig through every square inch of soil, like an adult blood diamond worker woudl. There are different groups of people that mine these diamonds. These groups will fight and argue to gain business from outsiders. They sell these diamonds to outsiders illegally and become wealthy. It's easy money, because the warlords pay the slaves and workers a minimal amount of money and gain a large profit

Blood Diamonds Today

Today, the Central African Republic (a.k.a. C.A.R.) have been recently banned from diamond trade. A rebel force called Seleka overthrew the government and took over the country about a year ago. They have been suspected of war crimes and blood diamond trading. Because of this, the C.A.R. has been banned.

Young Blood

Rebel leaders and warlords do not have a single compassion in their body. Even children are forced to sift through rivers and dig through every soil, like an adult blood diamond worker would.

Why Should You Care About Blood Diamonds?

Blood Diamonds are a huge problem for the world. Its hard to sell diamonds to somebody when all that is going through their head is slave labor and mutilated children. Blood diamonds pose a huge problem to the industry for that reason. That is why it needs to be stopped. It can mess up the global economy more than it already is. If diamonds sales drop, many countries will need to find a new source of income and their economies will plummet. Diamonds are forever, as long as they still have a value to consumers.

Blood Diamond Identity

The blood diamond industry is mostly in Africa where 67% of the worlds diamonds come from. It is hard to tell the difference in a blood diamond and a regular found diamond since most people do not trace its origin. Nicknames for blood diamonds are conflict diamond, converted diamond, hot diamond, and war diamond.

How Many People Died For Your Diamonds

Men forced to look for diamonds

In countries like Sierra Leone, Angola, and Central African Republic warlords and rebels use diamonds as currency. They use fear and brute force to enslave people and make them work from dusk till dawn trying to obtain diamonds. Many people die in the process of getting these diamonds, many blood shed. That is why these diamonds are called Blood Diamonds.

Countries Affected by Blood Diamonds

Children from Sierra Leone are forced to pan for diamonds or else face punishment.

Countries such as Sierra Leone, Angola, Liberia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and other Western African countries have been affected by the blood diamonds. Blood diamonds have caused these countries to enter an era of civil war, violence, poverty, and disease.

Why Are Blood Diamonds So Important

This shows how small and concealable diamonds are. They are very easy to smuggle across borders.

Blood diamonds provide a more easier way to transfer money. Since they are valued a lot in most African countries, they can trade diamonds for their valuables and items. Diamonds can also be smuggled very easily, due to the fact that they are not bulky and don’t have a scent. Unlike drugs and other commodities that are smuggled regularly, diamonds can be smuggled with little to no detection.

Prevention of Blood Diamonds

Kimberly Process helps stop the circulation of blood diamonds.

Although the blood diamond circulation has almost completely stopped, blood diamond digging still continues on. The Kimberley Process founded in 2000 has helped the conflict diamonds from being circulated with the authentic ones. The process consists of certifying legal diamonds and gemstones before they head out into the market. This prevents blood diamonds found in Africa from being exported to the rest of the world. The Kimberly Process helped some,