In the late 1990’s the entire world’s attention was captured during the extremely brutal conflict in Sierra Leone. Rebels used illicit rough diamonds to fund wars, purchase arms and they took illegitimate control over diamond mines.

During these conflicts a rebel group known as the Revolutionary United Front killed 75,000 innocent humans, chopped off arms and caused severe bodily mutilations to 20,000 people who worked in diamond mines or lived in diamond villages and all in all around 2 million people fled Sierra Leone in seek of asylum.   

This is just one example of the number of lives lost to conflict diamonds; the amount of blood shed over diamonds is unimaginable to our minds.

2006 saw the release of the German-American political war thriller film “Blood Diamonds”. For many of us this was the first glimpse into the “real” diamond trade. The truth behind what funds the wars and conflicts in Western & Central Africa.

So what is being done about it?

In all honesty, nothing. In 2003 a process commonly known as The Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS) was established in order to prevent “conflict diamonds” from entering the mainstream diamond market. The main aim was to ensure that purchasing diamonds would not fund violence by rebels. However, the scheme has many flaws and has failed to uphold its purpose.

The Kimberley Process has been used as the perfect cover story for the blood diamond and conflict diamond trade.

The main flaw of the Kimberley Process is how loosely they have defined what a conflict diamond is. The conflict diamond definition according the Kimberley process is a “Rough diamonds mined in an area controlled by insurgent forces whose sale is used to finance anti-government military action”. This clearly ignores the other on-going issues faced with diamond mining. For example, Zimbabwe despite being  a notorious country for child slavery, raping , murder and political conflict has its mined diamonds accepted under the Kimberley process.

The broader issues around diamond mining such as poor health & safety, child labour, slavery and unfair pay is not taken into consideration under the Kimberley Process. Another example,

in 2008 the Mugabe government seized the fields, killing 200 people in the process. And, immediately reports began to surface of human rights abuses, including rape, child labor and mass killings as the government forced locals to work in conditions approaching slave labor. This is because despite the horrid conditions they are mined under they would still pass as “conflict-free” diamonds as it was not used to fund the armed forces. These “filthy” diamonds are then passed onto consumers who believe they have purchased a conflict free diamond and no blood has been shed.

The second flaw is that the certificate does not apply to any single stone, it applies to a batch of rough diamonds, these are then shipped around the world to be cut and polished. There is no trail to any mined stone and without a tracking system it is impossible to seek the source of origin of a diamond. You cannot even trace it back to the country of origin let alone the mine the diamond was sourced from.

The Kimberley Process also fails to identify the disastrous environmental effects of diamond mining. This will be covered in a separate blog post

The Guardian also reported the failings of the Kimberley Process calling it “The Kimberley Process is a ‘perfect cover story’ for blood diamonds”

Are you willing to pay the price of humanity for a diamond?

The truth is blood diamonds and conflict diamonds are still an extremely large problem in today’s society. The Kimberley Process has already been shamed for being a scam.

There is a lot of misinformation mostly released by large diamond companies whose only interests are profit. These companies claim to be ethical while turning a blind eye on blatant human rights abuse, and will continue to do so as long as they maintain their profits. No matter what the cost.

Here at Ahimsa London we are here to make a difference by changing the way the diamond industry works. We refuse to accept that the murder, rape and torture of thousands of people is acceptable for any reason. Especially for a luxury item which in many cases is gifted as a token of love and affection.

 will not account for the tens of thousands of men, women, children and infants who are being raped, tortured, murdered and killed by these rebels who use illicit rough diamonds to fund wars, purchase arms and take illegitimate control over diamond mines.

New cutting edge technology allows us to mimic the natural process to create a diamond without the disastrous effects. Make a difference and vote u  Own your own or gift that special someone a 100% ethical, conflict and blood free diamond .

We are super excited to announce the launch of Ahimsa London- Diamonds Without the Guilt at www.LabMadeDiamonds.co.uk.We guarantee 100% conflict free & ethical diamonds. Cutting edge technology which creates diamonds in a laboratory rather than the old fashioned method of mining diamonds which comes with the misconception that a certified mined diamond  makes it ethical and conflict free. Enjoy 10% off all orders until 30th September by entering code “GUILTFREE”. Lab Grown Diamonds are exquisitely beautiful with identical chemical, physical and visual characteristics as a mined diamond. So much so that expert gemologists cannot distinguish between the two with the naked eye!

We are super excited to announce the launch of Ahimsa London- “Diamonds Without the Guilt” at www.LabMadeDiamonds.co.uk

Cutting edge technology allows us to create diamonds in a laboratory which are chemically and physically the same as mined diamonds. Expert gemologists cannot tell the difference between them through regular checks. They require specialist equipment which only suspects lab grown diamonds, does not confirm it.

   There is no need to dig up huge portions of land and displace thousands of people. Our ethical lab diamonds come with a 100% guarantee to be conflict free. Something even a certified mined diamond cannot do.

For a limited time only enjoy our launch special offer. Get 10% off all orders until 30th September by entering code “GUILTFREE”. 

We do not dig up hudge amounts of land, displace thousands of people and can guarantee that out diamonds are 100% conflict free.

Chemically and physically they are exactly the same as mined diamonds.

By using the lastest cutiing edge technolgy to create Dr