Nguyen 1 Phuong Nguyen Cheryl Thompson BBB4M0 June, 10, 2012 Diamonds There are many different kinds

of valuable gem in the world; however, diamonds is the most precious and favorite stone all the time. As the hardest known naturally material, diamond can be used to polish, cut and become a jewelery. Consumer claim that diamond is forever, thats why diamond wedding ring represent for the endless love. This is a reason why diamond always become a hot topic in the market all over the world. However, because of the deep and fast comsumption, diamond resources are becoming exhauted and it led to the conflict in countries that have diamond mines. Diamonds market is very busy in last recent years. According to a research of Diamcor Mining Inc, which is a Canadian company supply rough diamond to the world market, the total value of diamond jewellery sold each year is approximately US$72 billion while the total value of production is $14 billion per year with 160 million carats diamond per year. The USA represend the largest market of diamond followed India, China market. For the first half of 2011, the United States imported $11.3 billion and exported $9.4 billion in diamond. Every year around 7 billion dollars is spent on diamond rings in United States. Furthermore, as De Beers, which is a company in mining diamond, points out, an estimated US$13 billion worth of rough diamonds are produced per year, of which approximately US$ 8.5 billion are from Africa. The diamond industry employs around ten million people around the world. Canada, Russia, Australia and African countries are the most countries that producing diamond, however Africa has the largest reserves of diamond. This area is the worlds lagest producer of diamonds, producing as much as 50% of global production. Diamonds is very valuable, therefore, the exploitation of this resouces cause many problem in different countries around the world, especailly, Africa. The areas diamond mines produce not only diamonds, but also civil war, violence, human right and so on. To quote from Martin Chungong Ayafor, who is a chairman of the Sierra Leone Panel of Experts, Diamond are forever it is often said. But lives are not. We must spare people the ordeal of war, mutilations and death for the sake of conflict diamonds. So what is conflict diamond? According to the UN, conflict diamonds are diamonds that come from areas, which controlled by military forces or factions against to lawful and internationally recognized government and are used for military action in opposition to those governments, or in contravention of the decisions of the Security Council. A typical example for diamond conflict is a civil war in Sierra Leone from 1991 to 2002. Within 11 years, according to Human Right Watch, over 50,000 people have been killed. During the war, the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), which intervened in Sierra Leone in an attempt to overthrow the Joseph Momoh government, took control of large area that were rich in diamond. The RUF has been mining diamond and selling them to pay their weapons

Nguyen 2 and other activities. These diamonds have been sold around the world. In the other world, during this time, many people around the world had supported the war in Sierra Leone through buying diamonds. Finally, after many years, people knew about the diamond and started to stop buying conflict diamonds. In my opinion, there are many different ways to prevent conflict diamond. One of that is Kimberley Process. This is an international certification for rough diamond, which were not from conflict area. The Kimberley Process is open to all countries that are wiling and effectuate its requirement. Nowadays, people tend to by diamonds that have the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme; therefore, conflict diamonds have been reduced from 4% to less than 1%. By cutting back the number of conflict diamonds, we can limit the war and save our world become better. In conclusion, diamonds is the most valuable and hardest mineral in nature in the world. Therefore, it causes a lot of conflict in mining area. However, still, there are many ways to prevent it. And make diamond always become a symbol of love, unique and permanence.

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References Anup Shah. (2001, 7 23). Sierra leone author and page information. Retrieved from http://www.globalissues.org/article/88/sierra-leone Blood diamonds. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://noflytribe.blogspot.ca/2007/10/blooddiamonds.html Chandran Rajaram. (2010, 8 31). De beers. Retrieved from http://www.scribd.com/doc/36685731/De-Beers-Case-Analysis-Presentation Diamond fact . (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.diamondfacts.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id= 86&Itemid=133&lang=en Diamcor mining inc. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.diamcormining.com/ Jeff Miller. (2011, 8 11). U.s. diamond exports surge to a record $2.4b in june . . Retrieved from http://www.diamonds.net/news/NewsItem.aspx?ArticleID=36742 Martin Rapaport. (2000, 7 7). Non-conflict solutions . Retrieved from http://www.diamonds.net/news/NewsItem.aspx?ArticleID=4208 Sierra leone. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.factmonster.com/ipka/A0107959.html the United Nations Department of Public Information in cooperation with the Sanctions Branch, Security Council Affairs Division, Department of Political Affairs. (2011, 3 21). Conflict diamond - sanctions and war. Retrieved from http://www.un.org/peace/africa/Diamond.html World diamond retail. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.diamcormining.com/diamond_info/world_retail/