Blood diamonds: the international response (Russian version)

The West African state of Sierra Leone and earned as much as US$ 400 million in a decade of illegal smuggling. 'Conflict' or 'blood diamonds' were traded for arms and funded a brutal rebel campaign. The civil war in Sierra Leone and similar conflicts in other African countries such as Angola and DR Congo left thousands dead and hundreds of thousands refugees. Today some believe that diamonds fund the terrorist activities of al-Queda. Following UN sanctions imposed on diamond producing countries, the international community reacted further by establishing the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme. The EU played a significant role in negotiating the scheme - driving this multilateral process. Since January 2003, unpolished diamonds can only be bought or sold between the 43 participating countries. A Kimberley Process certificate that acts as an assurance the diamonds are 'conflict free', must accompany all diamonds. This VNR revisits Sierra Leone a country and a people visibly struggling to recover from a war fuelled by 'blood diamonds'. The VNR features alluvial mining in the Kono mining region of the country. Here, we meet with Sahfrea Mohammed Konoboy and his family, a miner who recounts his familys experience when they had to flee the rebel conflict. He speaks of his attempt to rebuild his life and his home. In the report, we meet with officials in the capital Freetown who administer the Kimberley Process Certification scheme and we follow the diamonds to Antwerp, Belgium, where authorities carry out thorough checks on the gems. We also take a closer look at the Kimberley Process mechanism.
2004
http://ec.europa.eu/external_relations/kimb/intro/index.htm

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Blood
• diamonds
• Kimberley
• process
• EU
• European
• Union