Blood Diamonds
The Kimberly Process is a standard intended to make it easier to purchase only ethical diamonds, while avoiding so-called “blood diamonds.” Unfortunately, the basic premise of the Kimberly Process is flawed by design, as only diamond mines controlled by rebel armies are defined as blood diamonds, while diamond mines controlled by government armies- no matter how brutal- are defined as “ethical.”
This was apparently the result of a compromise in the original agreement that produced the Kimberly Process, without which it would not have been able to secure the needed support of governments in the diamond-producing regions. However, the compromise effectively renders the Kimberly Process all but meaningless, as supposedly legitimate governments in that area are not necessarily any less murderous than their rebel counterparts. To give one example, when soldiers from Zimbabwe took over the Marange mine in 2008, they murdered upwards of two hundred diamond miners. Yet diamonds mined at Marange are not officially considered blood diamonds. You could easily purchase a Marange diamond marketed as an “ethical alternative,” but what difference does it make to a diamond miner if he is murdered by a rebel or a soldier?
Ethical consumerism is a noble goal, but the problems with the diamond trade illustrate the difficulty in attempting to combine consumerism and materialism with ethical decision-making in the first place. Diamonds are not even a traditional choice for an engagement ring. The use of diamonds for engagement rings is a recent phenomenon, created by the diamond industry's own marketing campaigns. Rather than futilely attempting to find ethical diamonds, it might just make more sense to forgo them completely.








