Your mobile may be financing murder
The issue of conflict diamonds is one that has been a part of the international consciousness for more than a decade, since the United Nations forbid countries from buying diamonds from Angola. The UN played a leading role in sharply reducing the sale of diamonds to fund armed violence. Thanks to coordinated international efforts and legislation, the trade in illegal diamonds fell from 20 percent of the total diamond trade in the 1980s, to one percent by 2004. One important element in the reduction of the conflict diamond trade was a massive effort by the diamond industry to certify the origin of diamonds so that governments and consumers could reject those coming from areas of violence — mostly in Africa. The 2006 film, Blood Diamond, brought the subject to popular consciousness, and it is unlikely that diamonds will ever again be able to be used on a large scale to finance an insurgency or warlord’s activities.
