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What is a Blood Diamond?

Mary McMahon
By
Updated: Feb 07, 2024
Views: 53,267
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A blood diamond, also referred to as a conflict or war diamond, is a diamond sold to finance terrorism or other violent acts including civil war. Trading in these diamonds has been recognized as a global problem, with terrorist organizations in a wide range of nations benefiting from the trade of these diamonds. The problem is most severe in Africa, where several nations including Liberia, Angola, and Sierra Leone have been affected, leading organizations such as the United Nations to enact resolutions to combat the sale of blood diamonds.

For terrorist organizations, diamonds are viewed as an ideal currency, due to the traditional closed nature of the diamond industry. The difficulty in tracking and monitoring diamonds makes it very easy to slip a blood diamond into a lot of legitimate diamonds, and by the time the situation has been realized, the diamonds have already vanished. Several trade associations have begun to respond to consumer pressure regarding blood diamonds, implementing better tracking and control.

Although access to diamond mines is restricted, determined individuals can smuggle diamonds out for sale. These individuals commonly deal the rough diamonds to violent organizations, who pay a small sum for the smuggled diamonds and then resell them to other organizations or groups who can successfully move the diamonds out of the country. The resulting stone is known as a blood diamond because the funds acquired from the sale usually go to the purchase of weapons.

Sometimes a blood diamond may be traded directly for weapons, to reduce the traceability of the transaction. In other cases, the diamonds may be exchanged for currency of various nations, often deposited into bank accounts outside the nation of origin. Because of the immense coordination involved, it has been suspected that several national governments, including the government of Liberia, are involved in the trade of these diamonds.

The blood diamond market is a serious political and social problem. Many people are killed in the pursuit of these diamonds, including mine workers who are forced to smuggle diamonds out to support growing families or pay off individuals who have threatened them. The weapons that the diamonds purchase fuel violent civil wars in which innocent individuals are stricken down. Billions of dollars have been gained from the sale of these war diamonds, leading to death tolls which are estimated to be in the millions.

Recognizing the blood diamond problem, professional organizations have teamed up with human rights groups to find a way to end the trade. Many diamonds now come with certificates indicating that the diamonds were carefully tracked at every step of the manufacturing process from mining to setting in jewelry, to assure consumers that they are not supporting the trade. Other nations with diamond deposits such as Canada have promoted a trade in their clean “Arctic Diamonds” which are not allowed to mix with rough stones from other locales.

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Mary McMahon
By Mary McMahon

Ever since she began contributing to the site several years ago, Mary has embraced the exciting challenge of being a WiseGeek researcher and writer. Mary has a liberal arts degree from Goddard College and spends her free time reading, cooking, and exploring the great outdoors.

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Discussion Comments
By anon135813 — On Dec 20, 2010

This is a good article for a school project like what I'm doing.

By anon110812 — On Sep 13, 2010

I will preface this by saying that I work for a jewelry store. We went a different route with our conflict free diamonds to avoid any false certificates. We were certified with the "Source Veritas Botswana" by Gem Certification and Assurance Lab (GCAL) of New York City, a division of publicly held Collectors Universe, Inc. (NASDAQ: CLCT).

We still include the Kimberly's certificate, however the stone is guaranteed from the specific mine in Botswana. This way we have a clear chain of custody from mine to market. Hopefully, other similar models will develop in coming years.

By Fiorite — On Jun 08, 2010

@Parmnparsley - Diamonds are not actually sold with the certificates stating their origins. These certificates the author spoke of are part of the Kimberley process certification scheme and diamond warranties endorsed by the world diamond council. The Kimberley process certificates are forgery resistant documents that accompany a rough diamond as it enters and exits every country. The diamonds must be shipped in sealed containers and exported with all documentation. The warranties that are endorsed by the World Diamond Council are used to track diamonds once they are cut. These are more based on a trust system; with exporters only having to state that the diamonds are acquired form conflict free sources. These warranties are more like invoices in the sense that a new one is created for every transaction. GIA certificates and those from other independent diamond grading labs do not have anything to do with the value or sourcing of a diamond. They only pertain to the physical characteristics of an individual stone. Any certificate that is received with a diamond stating its origin is a certificate that is generated by the dealer. Original warranties and certificates are preserved by diamond dealers as proof that they are sourcing their diamonds legitimately. Besides, a rough diamond can be cut into multiple polished stones; resulting in more stones than Kimberley certificates. If you are really worried about your diamonds sourcing you can buy a Canadian diamond, otherwise you will have to trust the system.

By parmnparsley — On Jun 08, 2010

I read this article so I checked the certificate that came with my fiancées engagement ring. The GIA certificate said nothing about where the diamond came from or how it came to my diamond dealer. I didn't but the diamond from a discount dealer, so I am not too worried about it being a conflict diamond, but I would like to know how I can get one of these certificates in the future. Does anyone know how to get these, or how to guarantee that the certificate that I am getting actually goes with the diamond I purchased? How do I know that somewhere along the way multiple copies of the certificate weren't made for diamonds of similar size and cut?

Mary McMahon
Mary McMahon

Ever since she began contributing to the site several years ago, Mary has embraced the exciting challenge of being a...

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