From Blood Diamonds to the Kimberley Process: How NGOs Cleaned Up the Global Diamond Industry

From blood diamonds to the Kimberley Process; how NGOs cleaned up the global diamond industry.

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They want to know about environmental impact. They want to know about labor practices.

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They want to know that the communities have benefited from the diamonds they are mining. An experienced gemologist might be able to tell the difference between a handful of rough diamonds from an industrial South African pit mine and those from a Congolese alluvial mine like the one where Mwanza labors. But those differences disappear as a diamond moves up the value chain.

Laundering a conflict diamond from a place like the Central African Republic is as simple as cutting it. None are paid for the labor; they work only for the opportunity to find diamonds. Knee-deep in water pumped from the nearby river, three men sluice pans of gravel through small sieves. One gives an excited yelp, fishes out a sliver of diamond the size of a peppercorn and hands it to an overseer sitting in the shade of a striped umbrella.

The overseer folds it into a piece of paper torn from a cigarette pack and puts it in his pocket.

If they are lucky they will find two or three such slivers in a day. He in turn will sell his purchases up the chain to one of the more established agents, who will collate several packets before making the journey to Tshikapa, where the streets are lined with small shop fronts adorned with hand-painted images of diamonds and dollar signs.

Eventually they come to an agreement on a price: Kindamba has no idea where the diamonds come from. Diamond-industry experts like to say a packet of diamonds will change hands on average eight to 10 times between the country of export and its final destination. The reality is that diamonds from the mines outside Tshikapa are likely to change hands eight to 10 times before they even leave the province for the capital, Kinshasa, the only place where Congolese diamonds can be certified for export. On the line noting the location of the mine, it will simply say Tshikapa.

See a Problem?

Given the near impossibility of tracing diamonds to their source in countries like Congo, where artisanal mining predominates, jewelers who want a more transparent supply chain usually buy from mining companies like De Beers or Rio Tinto, which control all aspects of the process from exploration to cutting and selling.

Others source only from countries with good human-rights records. Brilliant Earth, for example, buys most of its diamonds from Canada. On the one hand, companies need to understand enough about their supply chains to assure customers that child-labor issues, environmental degradation or human-rights abuses do not taint their jewelry.

The way to better conditions in Congo is to help us better our system so that the resources generated by Congo can profit Congo. Organizing miners into cooperatives is a key step in the process, much as it was for turning exploited coffee farmers into partners in fair trade.

Not only can cooperatives pool resources for better mining equipment, they also can share knowledge and set prices according to global markets, rather than on the basis of what local buyers are offering. Ironically, it is the company that has been the most outspoken about the evils of diamond mining that is doing the most to help Congolese miners right now.

When his father died of malaria last year, it looked as if Ngalamume would be joining his neighbor Mwanza in the mines. Instead he was picked as one of the first 20 students in the Brilliant Mobile School pilot program, based on his age, his previous schooling and the fact that he was at risk of going to work in the mines.

But hundreds more children in his village are still at risk. S o how can a concerned consumer buy a diamond in a way that actually helps people like Mwanza and Ngalamume? Asking questions can go a long way. Responsible jewelers should know every step in the path from mine to market. Diamonds that come from Zimbabwe and Angola are particularly problematic. Watchdog groups have documented human-rights abuses in and around mines in those countries, though exports from both nations are allowed under the Kimberley Process—another loophole in the system.

While buying diamonds from a conflict-free country like Canada can buy you a clean conscience, a better bet may be African countries like Botswana and Namibia. Franziska Bieri's book provides the first comprehensive account of the KP and is the first to reveal how NGOs have become critical actors in their own right, possessing the ability to directly influence policies and to participate in the decision making and the implementation of global agreements. In developing this argument, Bieri explains: Based on extensive personal interviews with prominent campaigners, leading bureaucrats, and industry officials, hundreds of KP publications, official UN documents, industry news, and NGO reports, this timely book allows for a much needed engagement in contemporary debates about the campaign against conflict diamonds, the Kimberley Process, and the themes defining today's global governance arena.

Hardcover , pages. Published August 28th by Routledge first published August 1st To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

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Good insight on global governance processes, yet not an easy or inspiring book, despite the relatively short length. Bieri's book is based on her dissertation and is written more as a study, instead of a popular work on the subject. From Blood Diamonds gives a good view on one of the more successful tripartite processes between states, NGOs and industry representatives.

The thorough presentation of the Kimberley process KP is followed from documents and interviews with some of the key players Good insight on global governance processes, yet not an easy or inspiring book, despite the relatively short length. The thorough presentation of the Kimberley process KP is followed from documents and interviews with some of the key players in the process. Instead of just documenting how the KP came to be, Bieri also follows what actually happened during the implementation stage.

This is important since, after all, an agreement is a good one only if it actually achieves in changing what it sought to change. The book is not long but ends up making some of the main points over and over again, without actually supporting the argument much further. The study - at least the way it's presented in the book - would benefit from presenting some hard data.

From blood diamonds to the Kimberley Process; how NGOs cleaned up the global diamond industry.

Now, there's very little theory and most of the information comes from the same industry and NGO representatives. This works well enough for painting a coherent picture of the KP but doesn't convince the reader that this is how, and why, all of these things happened the way they did. All in all, From Blood Diamonds is a useful read but staying focused on the book sometimes took a lot of effort.

Sep 11, John Kizildag rated it it was amazing. The Diamond Industry detailed a multi-billion dollar a year market for the precious stone used in jewelry, engagements, and industrial cutting. Although this trade appears elegant and glamorous, it's riddled with corruption, death, and one ultra-powerful company that runs it all. The diamond industry's controller, the De Beers Mining Company has a history of being corrupt, powerful propaganda, and fixing prices. This book was a very interesting read and showed how advertisements created massive The Diamond Industry detailed a multi-billion dollar a year market for the precious stone used in jewelry, engagements, and industrial cutting.

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