Conflict Diamonds and Human Security in Sierra Leone

By Ekah Mathias Nnane,
IPB Secretariat. April 2007

Diamonds - Conflict Source
INDIA Surat, Gujarat Province, 2005: Examples of different diamond cuts. Surat has become the Indian centre for the diamond polishing industry, as the diamonds imported here can be processed by a lower-waged workforce. The Surat Diamond Employers Association estimates that over 10,000 small workshops are in operation, employing a workforce of over a million.
Photographer © Dieter Telemans / Panos Pictures

Background

Post independence Africa has been a theater of very violent conflicts. Many of these conflicts are concentrated in the regions with a precious pool of natural resources such as diamonds and oil. Sierra Leone is among those countries whose natural resources have been a source of conflict instead of peace and development. The country was confronted with a bloody civil war from 1991 to 2000 between the rebels Revolutionary United Front and the government. Experts believe the sustained civil war for almost a decade was due to the resources got from the illegal sales of diamonds. The civil war led to the recruitment of thousands of child soldiers and by the end of hostilities in 2001, about 50 thousands people had been killed and almost 2 million displaced.

The Lomé Accord of 1999 set up the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to enable those who committed crimes to speak out to the victims in order to facilitate peace and unity. The accord led the Sierra Leonean government and the UN to set up the Special Court for Sierra Leone to try those who "bear the greatest responsibility for the commission of crimes against humanity, war crimes and serious violations of international humanitarian law, as well as crimes under relevant Sierra Leonean law within the territory of Sierra Leone since November 30, 1996." Both the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the Special Court began operating in the summer of 2002.

Conflict Diamonds and the Kimberley Process

The role of the diamond trade in the fuelling of the conflict in Sierra Leone and other regions in Africa has for some years been a matter of concern to the international community. This was demonstrated by the passage of the United Nations Security Council resolution 1306 on 5 July 2000 imposing a ban on the direct or indirect import of rough diamonds from Sierra Leone not controlled by the Government of Sierra Leone through a Certificate of Origin regime.

The UN went further by passing a UN General Assembly resolution 55/56 (1 December 2000). The resolution supported the creation of an international certification scheme to end the link between the illicit trade in conflict diamonds and human rights violations associated with armed conflict as witnessed in several African countries. The passage of these resolutions helped enormously in the launch of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS) in 2003. The Kimberley process aims to make all diamonds on sales “conflict free” i.e. they are not trafficked from conflict zones.

Civil society and the Kimberley Process

The signing of the Kimberley Process in the Swiss resort city of Interlaken in 2002 could not have happened without the pressure and advocacy of civil society organizations. Global Witness was one of the first NGOs to unveil in 1998 the role trafficked diamonds play in fuelling conflict in Sierra Leone and elsewhere in Africa. A Netherlands based NGO joined the growing campaign on issues related to conflict diamonds and led to the formation of a coalition of five European NGOs known as Fatal Transaction, among them Pax Christi an IPB member organization. The organization included five European NGOs acting as a focal point on conflict diamonds issues. Other organizations such as Oxfam International, World Vision and Amnesty International joined the campaign forcing the diamond industry to move from the position of denial to engagement.

The pressure on DeBeers (world’s largest diamond trading company) and the rest of the diamond industry was growing - who at this time had not paid enough attention of the role of the diamond trade in conflicts. Civil society organizations especially religous groups threatened a boycott which
heightened the fears of the diamond industry and forced them to invite NGOs to the World Antwerp Diamond Congress in 2000 which led to the creation of the World Diamond Council. The Council included companies’ representatives from different parts of the world and international banks. The aim was to develop and implement a tracking system for the export and import of rough diamonds to prevent the exploitation of diamonds for illicit purposes such as war and inhumane acts.

The threat of boycott by civil society organizations was also a great concern among governments of diamond-producing countries who feared they might lose thousands of jobs. The speech by Nelson Mandela (Paul Gready 2004) himself denouncing the call for trade boycott showed the extent to which countries producing diamonds feared the devastating effects of boycott on employment. Led by South Africa, many governments with a large diamond industry including Botswana, Namibia, Belgium, India, Australia and Canada joined the debate which led to the agreement on the certification of rough diamonds and finally culminated in the signing of the Kimberley Accord in 2002.

Although the Kimberley process helped to reduce the traffic in conflict diamonds, many international organizations were worried that diamonds from conflict zones were still able to penetrate the diamond market. This pushed many civil society organizations headed by Amnesty International, to meet in Botswana in November 2006. The objective of this summit was to evaluate how effectively the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme has been to-date and how it needs to be strengthened.

The movie « Blood Diamond » starring L. Dicaprio, released in early 2007, was partly filmed in Sierra Leone also helped draw attention once again to the role played by diamonds in fuelling conflicts and the child soldiers problem in Africa. According to Amnesty International and Global Witness “Blood diamonds are gems that have been used to fund rebel groups in wars in Africa, leading to more than 4 million deaths and millions more people displaced from their homes,”. Furthermore, Al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups like Hezbollah raised millions of dollars through the blood diamonds’ trade. Reports show that Hezbollah made use of the countless Lebanese in Sierra Leone and other parts of Africa to carry out their activities and fund raising (Stop Blood Diamond).

Post–War Sierra Leone

The Kimberly process and other international efforts to end the illegal trade in conflict diamonds have so far not improved the general human security situation in Sierra Leone. According to a recent article in the New York Times by Lydia Polgreen, diamond mining remains a grim business that brings the government far too little revenue to help improve the devastated economy and fight extreme poverty. In 2005, export earnings of diamonds from Sierra Leone stood at $141 million compared to $24 million in 2001, which is a very substantial increase because of the Kimberley certification process. But the government’s share is still very insignificant, of all official exports in 2006 the government’s share stood only at about $3.7 million, just 3% percent of the total export value (New York Times).

Due to the immense devastation of the eleven years conflict, the current government is not receiving sufficient resources from the diamond trade to provide minimum social services such as education and health. Sierra Leone enjoys a very fragile peace and stability. The country is still confronted with post-conflict human security problems such as high unemployment, corruption and extreme poverty. The local miners reap little or nothing for their intensive round-the-clock hard work as in many cases the foreign mine owners have simply been replaced by local elites. Sierra Leone's Finance minister once admitted that his government could not control corrupt mining and whether there is war or peace in Sierra Leone, this is unlikely to change. But only a few lucky ones will ever truly benefit from the diamond mines. (Tom McKingly, BBC)

Lost Limbs - Conflict Result SIERRA LEONE Kenema: An amputee in a wheelchair sits in front of a diamond dealership. Despite its natural resources, Kenema is one of the poorest and least developed areas of Sierra Leone.
Photographer © Sven Torfinn / Panos Pictures

Bibliography:
The Kimberley Process: http://www.kimberleyprocess.com/site/index.html
The United Nations: http://www.un.org/peace/africa/Diamond.html
Amnesty International: http://www.amnestyusa.org/amnestynow/diamonds.html
Stop Blood Diamonds organization: http://www.stopblooddiamonds.org/
Global Witness: http://www.globalwitness.org/
OneWorld International: http://www.oneworld.ca/article/view/70180/1/983
Blood Diamond Action: http://www.blooddiamondaction.org/
Blood Diamond Movie: http://blooddiamondmovie.warnerbros.com/
Global Policy Organization: http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/issues/diamond/
Diamond Fact: http://www.diamondfacts.org/conflict/index.html
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Hands_ondiamonds_350.jpg
Africa News: http://www.afrol.com
Internal Displaced Monitoring Centre: www.internal-displacement.org/
The New York Times: www.nytimes.com/africa
US State Department: http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/5475.htm
Paul Gready: Fighting for human rights, Routledge 2004 (chapter on conflict diamonds campaign)