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The Adverse Economic, Health, Environmental, and Human Rights Consequences of the Global Diamond Trade

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Title: The Adverse Economic, Health, Environmental, and Human Rights Consequences of the Global Diamond Trade


1
The Adverse Economic, Health, Environmental, and
Human Rights Consequences of the Global Diamond
Trade
  • Martin Donohoe

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4
Diamonds
  • Symbols of wealth, power, love, and magical
    powers
  • Created from carbon early in the earths history
    under extreme temperature and pressure
  • Industrial uses cutting, chemically inert,
    transmits many wavelengths of light, can be
    tweaked to hold an electric charge
  • Discovered in India around 800 B.C.
  • Commercial mining began in 1866 in South Africa

5
Diamond Production
  • Botswana (26), Russia (20), Canada (18),
    Zimbabwe (8-13, possibly up to 25 with new
    finds), Angola (10) are the major mining
    countries
  • Antwerp, Tel Aviv, New York and Mumbai (Bombay)
    major trading centers

6
Diamond Production
  • Most cutting done in Tel Aviv, Mumbai, New York
    and Thailand
  • Major retail markets U.S. (48 of diamond
    jewelry) and Japan

7
The US Diamond Market, 2005
  • 900 million worth of rough diamonds and 15
    billion worth of polished diamonds imported
  • Retail sales 33.7 billion

8
Kimberley Mine, SAYielded 3 tons of diamonds,
Closed 1914
9
Mirny Diamond Mine, SiberiaLargest open diamond
mine in the world
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13
The Diamond Engagement Ring
  • Diamond engagement ring introduced in 1477
    (Archduke Ferdinand ? Mary of Burgundy)
  • De Beers Mining Company
  • Founded by Cecil Rhodes in 1888

14
Cecil Rhodes(Rhodesia, Rhodes Scholarship,
DeBeers Mining Company)
  • We must find new lands from which we can easily
    obtain raw materials and at the same time exploit
    the cheap slave labour that is available from the
    natives of the colonies. The colonies would also
    provide a dumping ground for the surplus goods
    produced in our factories.

15
Diamond Rings
  • 1939 DeBeers hires N.W. Ayer and Company to make
    diamonds a psychological necessitythe larger
    the diamond, the greater the expression of love.
  • Secret engagements popularized (men spend more
    than women)
  • By 1942, 80 of engagements in U.S. consecrated
    with diamond rings (still true today)
  • Diamonds first worn by stars to the Oscars in 1942

16
Diamond Rings
  • 1947 A diamond is forever slogan born
  • Jewelers instructed to tell (pressure?) men - who
    buy 90 of all diamonds to spend at least 2
    months salary on the ring

17
Diamond Rings
  • DeBeers promotes surprise proposals
  • Men spend more than when women involved in
    selection process
  • Later Anniversary diamonds

18
Diamond Rings
  • 1999 Advertising Age magazine declares A
    Diamond is Forever slogan the most effective of
    the 20th Century
  • Recognized by 90 of Americans
  • 2003 De Beers begins to market diamonds to
    single women
  • Your left hand says we, your right hand says
    me.

19
Pet JewelryThe Diamond Dog Collar
20
Diamonds Profits and Losses
  • 120 million carats rough diamonds mined for
    jewelry per year weigh 24 tons, worth
    approximately U.S.14 billion
  • 1 carat diamond retails for 350-750 in the U.S.
  • Cost less than 2 billion to extract
  • Ultimately sell for over 50 billion

21
Diamonds Profits and Losses
  • Workers desperately poor but hoping to strike it
    rich in casino economy
  • 1 million in Africa
  • Work under dangerous, unhealthy conditions for
    pittance
  • Diamonds may be embedded in asbestos
  • Workers suffer from cancer, leukemia, silicosis

22
Diamonds Profits and Losses
  • Middlemen, diamond dealers and exporters earn the
    lions share of profits
  • Most foreign nationals
  • Very little profit re-invested in local
    communities

23
Diamonds Profits and Losses
  • 2008 DeBeers settles several class action
    lawsuits over anti-trust violations, unfair
    competition, and consumer-protection laws related
    to monopolizing supplies, conspiring to
    fix/raise/control prices, and disseminating false
    and misleading advertising
  • Over 300 million plus prohibitions/oversight
  • DeBeers admits no wrongdoing

24
Diamonds Human Rights Abuses, Conflict and
Terrorism
  • Mine owners violate indigenous peoples rights
    via destruction of traditional homelands and
    forced resettlement
  • Mining hastens environmental degradation of
    ecosystems already under severe stress

25
Diamonds Human Rights Abuses, Conflict and
Terrorism
  • Diamonds have been used by rebel armies in the
    Democratic Republic of the Congo, Angola,
    Liberia, and Sierra Leone to pay for weapons used
    to fight brutal civil wars
  • 3.8 million deaths
  • Child soldiers
  • Forced labor
  • Sex slavery, HIV
  • Terrorize local populations (e.g., RUF in Sierra
    Leone killed and mutilated thousands via
    amputations with machetes and axes in 1990s)

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Diamonds Human Rights Abuses, Conflict and
Terrorism
  • Al Qaeda and Hizbollah have used diamond monies
    to
  • Fund terror cells
  • Hide money targeted by financial institutions
  • Launder profits from criminal activity
  • Convert cash into a commodity that is easily
    transportable and holds its value

28
Diamonds Human Rights Abuses, Conflict and
Terrorism
  • Smuggled and illicit conflict diamonds may amount
    to as much as 10-15 of diamond jewelry sold
    worldwide
  • U.S. State Dept.
  • 20
  • Global Witness

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Alternatives and Solutions
  • Diamonds
  • Consider alternatives to traditional engagement
    ring
  • Cubic zirconium
  • Synthetic/cultured diamonds over 75,000 lbs
    produced each year worldwide
  • LifeGems (diamonds created from carbon captured
    during cremation of human and animal remains!)
  • Other

31
Alternatives and Solutions
  • Diamonds
  • Purchase only verifiable conflict-free diamonds
  • cut, color, clarity, and conflict
  • Query jewelers, consumer education, boycotts,
    protests, shareholder activism
  • Diamond industry prefers self-regulation

32
Alternatives and Solutions
  • Diamonds Kimberly Process Certification Scheme
  • Requires rough controls to assure conflict-free
    diamonds
  • Governments license miners
  • Diamond traders utilize sealed, tamper-proof
    containers
  • Integrated computer databases in importing and
    exporting countries catch discrepancies

33
Alternatives and Solutions
  • Diamonds Kimberly Process Certification Scheme
  • Importing countries enact strict customs
    regulations, backed by thorough inspections and
    harsh penalties
  • Supported by diamond industry and UN General
    Assembly
  • Involved countries (71) slow and often
    ineffective in enacting Scheme

34
Symbols of Love Alternatives and Solutions
  • U.S. Clean Diamond Act of 2003
  • Mandates participation in Kimberly Process
    Certification scheme
  • Money from fines (up to 10,000 for civil and
    50,000 for criminal penalties) and seized
    contraband earmarked for victims of armed
    conflict
  • Implementation slow
  • USA Patriot Act includes anti-money laundering
    measures

35
Alternatives and Solutions
  • Amnesty International/Global Witness 2006-2007
    survey
  • ½ of companies failed to respond
  • Only 38 of companies responding able to provide
    a meaningful account of their policies
  • Helzberg Diamond Shops, Sterling (Signet), and
    Tiffany and Co. have most comprehensive policies

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Safe Diamonds (?)
38
Alternatives and Solutions
  • Consider alternative tokens of affection
  • Homemade gifts (cards, photo collages, videos,
    poems, meals, home improvement projects)
  • Donations to charities
  • Eco-jewelry made from recycled materials by
    indigenous peoples
  • Profits returned to local communities, providing
    wide-ranging social and economic benefit

39
Conclusions
  • Diamonds as symbols of love are cultural
    constructs perpetuated in part by the persuasive
    marketing efforts of multinational corporations
  • Production involves significant damage to local
    communities and the environment and harms men,
    women and children

40
Conclusions
  • Production supports human rights abuses, armed
    conflict, and even terrorism
  • Symbols of love should not be constant reminders
    of death and destruction
  • Consider alternative symbols of love
  • Work for social justice and change

41
Paper/References
  • Donohoe MT. Flowers, diamonds, and gold The
    destructive human rights and environmental
    consequences of symbols of love. Human Rights
    Quarterly 200830164-82.
  • http//www.publichealthandsocialjustice.org
  • http//www.phsj.org
  • martindonohoe_at_phsj.org
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