Blood Diamonds

A blood diamond (also called a conflict diamond or a war diamond) is a diamond mined in a war zone and sold, usually clandestinely, in order to finance an insurgent or invading army's war efforts.

In 1998 the UN placed Angola under sanctions forbidding countries from buying diamonds from them. This resolution was the first resolution of the UN which specifically mentioned diamonds in the context of funding war. In 1999 the illicit diamond trade was estimated to have made up 3.06% of the world's diamond production. By 2004 this percentage had fallen to approximately 1%.

The Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS) is a process designed to certify the origin of diamonds from sources which are free of conflict. The process was established in 2002 to prevent rebel groups and their rivals from financing their war aims from diamond sales. The certification scheme aims at preventing these "conflict diamonds" (also known as "blood diamonds") from entering the mainstream rough diamond market. It was set up to try to assure consumers that by purchasing diamonds they were not financing war and human rights abuses.

The remaining 1% of diamonds which are blood diamonds amount to over 100 million dollars! Clearly there is still a lot to be done. Our attempt to help the situation is the Conflict Neutral^™ concept

Our Conflict Diamond Policy

We ensure to the greatest extent possible that all resources used in our products are ethically sourced. We audit all our suppliers to confirm that all dimaonds are sourced in compliance with the KPCS. Written record are kept of these audits. We also have written guarantees from our suppliers that they do not emply or condone any human rights abuses, such as child labour in their supply train. As we acknowledge that there is currently no absolute guarantee of ethical status and because of historic harm caused by the diamond industry we donate a proportion of the value of each sale to the Conflict Neutral scheme.