Conflict Diamonds

Conflict diamonds, often called blood diamonds, are rough diamonds extracted from areas controlled by forces opposed to internationally recognized governments and traded to fund military action against those governments. The term gained global attention during the civil wars in Sierra Leone, Angola, Liberia, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the 1990s, where rebel groups such as the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) and UNITA used diamond revenues to purchase weapons, fuel insurgencies, and sustain campaigns marked by mass atrocities, including the amputation of civilians.

The UN General Assembly addressed the issue in resolution A/RES/55/56 (2000), recognizing the link between rough diamond trading and armed conflict. The UN Security Council also imposed targeted sanctions on diamond exports from specific countries, including Angola (resolution 1173 in 1998), Sierra Leone (resolution 1306 in 2000), and Liberia (resolution 1343 in 2001).

The principal international response is the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS), launched in 2003 after negotiations beginning in Kimberley, South Africa in May 2000. The scheme requires participating states to certify that shipments of rough diamonds are conflict-free and to trade only with other participants. It is implemented jointly by governments, the diamond industry (notably the World Diamond Council), and civil society observers such as Partnership Africa Canada and, formerly, Global Witness.

Critics argue the KPCS definition is too narrow because it covers only diamonds funding rebel movements, not stones linked to state-sponsored violence, forced labor, or human rights abuses. Global Witness withdrew from the scheme in 2011, citing its failure to address violence in Zimbabwe's Marange diamond fields. Debates continue over expanding the definition of "conflict diamond" and strengthening enforcement, traceability, and chain-of-custody requirements in the global rough-diamond supply chain.