AFRICANEWS
Action and contactsCAMPAIGN LAUNCHED TO STOP BILLION DOLLAR DIAMOND TRADE FROM FUNDING CONFLICT IN AFRICAA group of European organisations today launched a campaign to alert the public to the US$ 42 billion diamond trade's shameful secret which is that diamonds have been funding rebel armies across Africa. "Most people would be horrified to learn that their diamond jewellery had financed the purchase of landmines or guns in one of Africa's brutal conflicts," said Alex Yearsley of Global Witness. This has been happening throughout the 1990s with diamonds originating from the war-torn countries of Angola, Sierra Leone and Liberia, being sold in jewellery shops worldwide. These conflicts have resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of civilians, the maiming of thousands of women and children by landmines and the displacement of millions of refugees. Despite this the trade has failed to put any controls in place to ensure that their diamonds have not funded the purchase of weapons for rebel armies. Fatal Transactions are calling on the public and other interested organisations to ask the diamond trade to implement effective controls to ensure that diamonds do not fund rebel armies in Africa. Consumers have the right to expect that their diamonds do not fund conflict. The campaign recommends they ask companies such as De Beers what controls they will introduce to ensure that these conflict diamonds do not reach the market place. This campaign is not anti-diamond but it is anti-war. Diamond revenue can bring enormous benefit to a country's economy if transparently controlled such as in Botswana, Namibia and South Africa where diamond revenue has funded economic growth and stability. It is an hypocrisy that these diamonds, marketed as an eternal symbol of love and beauty, end up for sale in London, Antwerp, New York and Milan. "As we approach the millennium it is incredible that there are no meaningful controls in place to ensure that diamonds do not fund conflict," said Yearsley.
Global Witness |