Blood Diamonds

Blood Diamonds AFFecting Africa since the 1990´s

Multiple African countries are having a huge, bloody war over their most valuable resources, the diamond. The diamonds are known as blood diamonds, or conflict diamonds because the money earned from them are used to buy weapons to fight in wars. One of the other biggest problems besides the war is how people are being forced to mine these diamonds.

There are 7 main countries involved with the mining of the blood diamonds. These countries are Sierra Leone, Liberia, Angola, the Republic of Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, the Central African Republic, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

These 7 countries have a poorly run government. These poorly run governments are why the diamonds are able to be mined without anyone stopping them. The diamond process is big and powerful, and not very many people try to stop what they are doing.

In the mines there can be little kids to grown men mining for diamonds. Many of the miners are forced into the mines for fear of their life or their families lives. That's not always the case though. Sometimes there will be kids that have to go into the mines to earn money for their family because there parents don't make enough money or can't work. For some it's their only hope of survival, and they don't even make a whole lot. Most families in Africa live on less than $1.25 a day! It's hard to afford clothes, food, medical care, or the opportunity to go to school.

Miners are often forced to use primitive, back-breaking methods such as digging into mud or gravel along river banks with their bare hands. The collected material is then separated using hand-held sieves.

To stop this you could tell your friends and family to not buy diamonds unless they are 100% sure that it didn't come from these areas. This won't stop blood diamonds instantly, it will take time, but this could eventually be a way to stop them.

By: Jack Jorgensen

Cites: Armstrong, Paul. “What Are ´Conflict Diamonds´.” CNN, 5 Dec. 2011, www.cnn.com/2011/12/05/world/africa/conflict-diamonds-explainer/. Accessed 7 Mar. 2017.

Baker, Aryn. “Blood Diamonds.” Time, time.com/blood-diamonds/. Accessed 11 Mar. 2017.

“Diamond Color.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 12 Mar. 2017. Web. 14 Mar. 2017. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diamond_color>.

“Diamonds Are Forever (novel).” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 12 Mar. 2017. Web. 14 Mar. 2017. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diamonds_Are_Forever_(novel)>.

Lartigue, Laura. “Alluvial Diamond Miner Sierra Leone 2005.jpg.” Wikimedia Commons. N.p., 3 Feb. 2009. Web. 14 Mar. 2017. <https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Alluvial_diamond_miner_Sierra_Leone_2005.jpg>.

Polgreen, Lydia. “Diamonds Move From Blood to Sweet and Tears.” The New York Times, 25 Mar. 2007, www.nytimes.com/2007/03/25/world/africa/25diamonds.html. Accessed 11 Mar. 2017.

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Blood Diamonds AFFecting Africa since the 1990´s

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