Blood Diamonds in Sierra Leone

1
Blood Diamonds in Sierra Leone

• By
• Michelle Kloda
• Liliana Rzepecka

Photo Credit Angelo Flickr
2
Background Information on Sierra,
Leone
3
Sierra Leone is a small country located in West
Africa, and bordering the North Atlantic Ocean.
It has four distinct geographical regions which
include coastal mangrove swamps, the wooded hill
country, an upland plateau and the eastern
mountains. (Economic Commission for Africa)
Photo Credit Andriyko_UA Wikimedia Commons
4
Photo Credit Oxford Cartographers
5
It was a former British colony that won its
independence in 1960, but the diamond history of
Sierra Leone had begun in 1935. All of the
smuggling of diamonds though, had become economic
and political problems in 1961, after the county
gained its independence. De Beers was a diamond
company from London, and took control of the
diamond trade in Sierra Leone. As a result of all
the fighting over diamonds and civil wars, Sierra
Leone suffered terrible costs politically and
economically. (Blood Diamonds The Conflict in
Sierra Leone)
Photo Credit Duke MBA Footprints
6
Diamonds Within Sierra Leone
7
Diamonds in Sierra Leone are the most known
minerals for making jewelry. Those diamonds are
of the best quality today. This is why the
problem of blood diamonds is occurring in Sierra
Leone. (Blood Diamonds The Conflict in Sierra
Leone)
Photo Credit Tataza Diamonds
8
What is a diamond? A diamond is an allotrope of
carbon, where carbon is arranged in a variation
of the face-centered cubic crystal
structure. Hardness Diamond is a perfect "10",
defining the top of the hardness scale, and by
absolute measures four times harder than sapphire
Color is variable and tends toward pale yellows,
browns, grays, and also white, blue, black,
reddish, greenish and colorless. Luster is
adamantine to waxy. Cleavage is perfect in 4
directions forming octahedrons. (Amethyst
Galleries' Mineral Gallery)
Photo CreditGIA
9
Photo Credit GIA
10
Blood Diamond Issues Involving
People
11
Photo Credit Jean-Claude Coutausse/ CONTACT
Press Images
Since 1991, when Revolutionary United Front (RUF)
took over the country, people of Sierra Leone are
terrorized by the members of RUF. The country is
full of corruption because the main goal of RUF
is to control the diamond mines. The group takes
innocent people and imprisons them, and later
makes them work in the mines. It is also a major
issue because Diamond Trafficking in Sierra Leone
involves child labor. Many of the children
working in the mines are between ages 7-16 from
all different kinds of backgrounds. It is
terrible for these people to work there, because
of the horrible conditions, and punishments for
smallest mistakes. (IHS Child Slave Labor)
12
Photo Credit UK Photo Journalism
13
The children in these mines are willing to dig
until they find the magic stone. Many of these
children are working without pay and dont know
their rights as human beings. They have the
impression that for all the work in the mines,
they might get a pair of sneakers, but really it
is all they do not realize that instead of
working in the mines for sneakers, they could
make their own decisions and get freedom. The
child labor activists call these diamonds blood
diamonds to describe the jewels that the
children work to mine everyday. (IHS Child Slave
Labor)
Photo Credit Jean-Claude Coutausse/ CONTACT
Press Images
14
Photo Credit David Lacina
15
Photo Credit New African Mining
All the activities in Sierra Leone done by RUF
were ignored by the for many years. A recent
study done by UN shows outside world that about
125 million dollars worth of diamonds were bought
by companies from all around the world from
Sierra Leone. Because of this money, many
innocent people died or were forced to labor in
tragic conditions. (Stop Blood Diamonds)
16
Photo Credit Adam Cohn
17
Recently, actions to stop Revolutionary United
Front were taken by United Nations. Ever since UN
got involved with the situation of diamond
trafficking in Sierra Leone, the illegal
activities decreased and diamonds are traded
according to the law. Still, traders and buyers
should look deeper into source from which they
get their diamonds. If everyone did, then those
people that have to labor would not be hurt and
they would not be forced to slave in the mines,
because RUF would not get any money from the
diamonds. Buyers should always ask questions
about the source of their diamonds, because the
product they might be buying, might be a blood
diamond. (Stop Blood Diamonds)
Photo Credit Donald G. NcNeil
18
Photo Credit Mikko Takkunen
19
http//www.youtube.com/watch?vxoJNwmZ74bU
20
References
Andriyko_UA. "FileFlag-map of Sierra Leone.png
-." Wikimedia Commons. Nov. 2009
lthttp//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/FileFlag-map_
of_Sierra_Leone.pnggt. Angelo. "Blood diamonds on
Flickr - Photo Sharing!" Welcome to Flickr -
Photo Sharing. Nov. 2009 lthttp//www.flickr.com/p
hotos/angelo-gr/2473203208/gt. "Buying Diamonds
by Tataza Diamonds Wholesale Loose Diamonds and
Jewellery." Diamonds and Diamond Jewellery -
Tataza Diamonds. Nov. 2009 lthttp//www.tatazadia
monds.com.au/Buying_Diamonds.aspxgt. Cohn, Adam.
"Sierra Leone Diamond Miner on Flickr - Photo
Sharing!" Welcome to Flickr - Photo Sharing.
Nov. 2009 lthttp//www.flickr.com/photos/adamcohn/
3238697590/gt. Cole, Elyce. "Diamond-Trafficking
Infects the Youth of Sierra Leone." IHS Child
Labor News. Nov. 2005.Nov. 2009
lthttp//ihscslnews.org/view_article.php?id34gt. "
Conflict diamonds." Welcome to the United
Nations It's Your World. Nov. 2009
lthttp//huwu.org/peace/africa/Diamond.htmlgt. "DI
AMOND (Carbon)." Amethyst Galleries' Mineral
Gallery. Nov. 2009 lthttp//www.galleries.com/mine
rals/elements/diamond/diamond.htmgt. GIA The
Difference Between Wondering and Knowing. Nov.
2009 lthttp//gia4cs.gia.edu/gt. Jean-Claude
Coutausse/ CONTACT Press Images. "Amnesty
Magazine." Amnesty International USA - Protect
Human Rights. Nov. 2009 lthttp//www.amnestyusa.
org/amnestynow/diamonds.htmlgt. Johnson, Eric.
"Blood Diamonds." Stanford University. 6 Dec
2002. Nov. 2009 lthttp//www.stanford.edu/class/e2
97c/Conflict20in20Sierra20Leone.htmgt.
21
Lacina, David. "Travel Photo Gallery - Working In
Diamond Mines, Diamond Mines, Sierra Leone."
Travel Photo Gallery. Nov. 2009
lthttp//photo.lacina.net/photo-3026-working-in-dia
mond-mines-diamond-mines-sierra-leone.htmlgt. NcNe
il, Donald G. "The New York Times Log In." The
New York Times - Breaking News, World News
Multimedia. Nov. 2009. lthttp//www.nytimes.com/200
6/12/17/weekinreview/17mcneil.htmlgt. New
African Mining AG Welcome to New African Mining.
Nov. 2009 lthttp//www.newafricanmining.ch/gt.
"November 2007." UK PhotoJournalism. Nov. 2009
lthttp//iriepj.wordpress.com/2007/11/gt. Oxford
Cartographers. "Sierra Leone." Johnny's Sea
World. Nov. 2009 lthttp//www.johnnysseaworld.com/
Sierra20Leone.htmlgt. "Sierra Leone -
Background." Economic Commission for Africa. Nov.
2009 lthttp//www.uneca.org/aisi/nici/country_prof
iles/Sierra20Leone/sierrab.htmgt. "Sierra
Leone Conflict Diamonds." Stop Blood Diamonds.
Nov. 2009 lthttp//www.stopblooddiamonds.org/sierr
a-leone-conflict-diamonds.aspgt. "Sierra Leone
(08/09)." U.S. Department of State. Nov. 2009
lthttp//www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/5475.htmgt. Ta
kkunen, Mikko. Mikko Takkunen. Nov. 2009
lthttp//mikkotakkunen.com/gt. "The Duke MBA
Footprints Conference Closing Keynote." The Duke
MBA Net Impact Club. Nov. 2009 lthttp//www.dukemb
anetimpact.org/footprints/keynote_closing.phpgt.