The Dark Side of Diamonds

"Diamonds are forever" it is often said. But lives are not. We must spare people the ordeal of war, mutilations and death for the sake of conflict diamonds." Martin Chungong Ayafor, Chairman of the Sierra Leone Panel of Experts

"Blood Diamond" starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Connelly is gripping and heartbreaking and sadly, a true story.

The movie is set in Sierra Leone in the 1990s and illustrates the harsh reality of the blood diamond trade.

Rebel militias, known as the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) seized control of Sierra Leone's diamond-rich mines. They mined and sold the diamonds illegally, using the profits to finance their war against the government.

Countless appalling human rights abuses can be attributed to the trade of blood diamonds in Sierra Leone.

The RUF routinely kidnapped children and trained them as soldiers.


Rebels amputated the limbs of civilians, leaving them unable to work or support themselves. Just before a rebel cut off the arms of a villager they would ask “long sleeves or short sleeves?” This is one of the particularly haunting scenes depicted in Blood Diamond. The civil war resulted in deaths of fifty thousand people and left nearly a million in refugee camps.

The conflict in Sierra Leone has since ended. Many are still piecing their lives back together after the lengthy civil war. Since then much has been done to combat illicit diamond trade, including the Kimberly Process, which helps to weed out legitimate diamonds from those mined in conflict zones.

In spite of all that has been done countries such as Cote D’Ivoire and the Democratic Republic of the Congo are still ravaged by the blood diamond trade.

I urge everyone to see this movie for a better understanding of what blood diamonds are and how they affect the lives of millions of people. I also hope that this movie will encourge people to act because the violence will continue for as long as diamonds are profitable. It is important for consumers to ask questions and demand that their diamonds are conflict free.