Blood Diamonds

There are other names which are used for blood diamonds. These are seldom heard by your average purchaser of diamond jewelry. The other names are ones like war diamond, dirty diamond and of course conflict diamonds. For a diamond to qualify as being a blood diamond you should understand that is needs to be mined from a country that is at war within its own borders.The blood diamonds which are mined from these diamond mines are sold in clandestine sales. The money which is obtained from these sales provides the various warlords with the funds they need to carry on with their war efforts. This includes the buying of more highly specialized weapons. Now although the United Nations in 1998 has identified blood diamonds as being a source of funding for war, it has taken the diamond industry some time to take steps to address this problem.In May of 2000 the diamond producing countries of South Africa met in a place called Kimberley which is found in South Africa. A plan was put in place whereby the trade in blood diamonds could be halted. Buyers of these types of diamonds would then be assured that their diamond purchases wont have contributed to any violence or war in another country.On July of 2000 the congress of the World Diamond manufacturers adopted a resolution to strengthen the diamond industry's ability to block sales of blood diamonds. This resolution was done at Antwerp. The resolution calls for an international certification system.This certification system is placed on the export and import of all diamonds in the world. By this system each country can accept legislation from different countries to accept only diamonds which are in officially sealed packages. These seals should state that the diamonds which are enclosed are not being used as proceeds for war.The resolution also allows various countries to impose war criminal charges on anyone who is found guilty of selling blood diamonds. These countries have also been given the right to impose a ban on any country or person who feels that they can trade in the sale of blood diamonds.