In the lead-up to Valentine’s Day, people across the world rush to buy diamond engagement rings. By now most will know that in the past, many diamonds were mined in African war zones where rebel groups used the proceeds to fund their violent insurgencies. To assuage any guilt that may taint the romantic gesture, the diamond industry tells us that today, 99 percent of diamonds are now “conflict-free.”
It’s true there has been progress. A generation ago, as much as 15 percent of global diamond production was believed to be linked to conflict. But in 2003, thanks to public pressure and awareness campaigns by organizations like Global Witness, a certificate system known as the Kimberley Process was born.
Backed by a United Nations resolution, the system allowed for rigorous tracking that is supposed to keep so-called blood diamonds from being sold in global markets. The reality is that there’s still virtually no way of knowing whether a diamond is or isn’t connected to some kind of atrocity. The system is riddled with problems: Monitoring is lax, enforcement is nearly nonexistent, and the definitions of “conflict” are so narrow that they exclude the many other forms of violence and abuse that plague the trade.
For the rest of this article: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/13/opinion/valentines-day-diamond-abuse.html