Should we be concerned about buying conflict or blood diamonds? What are the moral and financial implications of buying blood diamonds?

Buying diamonds for most people comes at a time when they are buying an item of jewellery such as diamond earrings, an engagement ring etc. This not only involves a major financial investment but an emotional one as well. The jewellery is likely to be kept in the family for years to come and so being confident about what you are buying is paramount.

In a way you need to feel that you are not only buying your diamonds from a reputable source but also that your supplier, whether it be an online retailer or traditional high street shop, obtains its goods from sources that also meet certain social, political and environmental responsibilities.

Most people have heard the term Blood Diamond or Conflict diamond but do you know what they are? In essence there are diamonds that have been purchased from rebel movements, terrorists or thieves. In the majority of cases the money made from theses diamonds ends up funding terrorist movements and civil wars.

With this in mind it is important that you buy your diamonds from a retailer who is able to confirm that your jewellery has passed the Kimberley Process.

The Kimberley Process is an International Certification Scheme that regulates the trade of rough (unpolished) diamonds. Given the current political climate and the events of the last few years the last thing that anyone wants is be to be inadvertently funding these shocking activities throughout the world. That is the reason why they are called blood diamonds as literally people (in some cases many people) have been murdered as a result of the theft of these diamonds from their original source.

The Blood Diamonds are normally smuggled out as rough diamonds which have yet to resemble anything that we see in a shop window! The main countries where these diamonds originate are the Central and West African countries such as Sierra Leone. You will usually find that wherever there is conflict and diamonds are easy to mine there are blood diamonds.

In reality there is little that can be done to stop the smuggling of these diamonds from their original sources. However we can do what we can to stop the trade of these diamonds and therefore making smuggling them pointless. To do this we need to make sure that we are purchasing our jewellery from legitimate sources and that they can prove the origin of the diamonds they are supplying.