Over one million diggers search for diamonds this way in Africa. They make less than a dollar a day, while the global diamond trade nets an estimated $80 billion a year.

But, economic woes are not the only human toll of the gem industry.

In countries like Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Sierra Leone, diamonds were used by armed militias and rebels to fan civil war and inflict misery on the population. These became known as “blood diamonds.”

Global Witness was one of the first non-governmental organizations to focus on the issue. Speaking with VOA in London, Annie Dunnebacke says the group set out to document the tragedy of conflict diamonds.

“Sierra Leone is one of the most notorious cases where hundreds of thousands of people died as a result of the conflict that saw the eastern part of the country, where the diamond fields are, controlled by the Revolutionary United Front, a rebel group backed by then Liberian president Charles Taylor,” says Dunnebacke. “Horrific destruction and havoc was wreaked, especially upon the civilian population really, because the diamonds represented an economic incentive for the war to continue.”

The horrors of that war shocked the public, especially the scenes of innocent men, women and children with their limbs cut off by rebels, and youngsters being forced into combat. Efforts to publicize the link between the atrocities, the warlords and the diamonds paid off.

The movie Blood Diamonds helped. In it, Leonardo DiCaprio plays an ex-mercenary who sells arms to Sierra Leone rebels in exchange for diamonds. In the end, though, he gives up the business and helps publicize the illicit trade.

Global Witness was an advisor on the film, and Annie Dunnebacke says it had an impact. “I think bringing the message in sort of Hollywood terms to a much wider audience than possibly our reports get to, it does have value,” she says.

Eventually, international pressure made the diamond industry sit up and listen. In 2003, the Kimberley Process came into being. It requires member governments to certify that exports and imports are free from blood diamonds. Industry associations said they would comply.

Tom Tweedy is a spokesman for DeBeers, the world’s largest producer of rough diamonds. He says the Kimberley Process is a good way forward. “We have a system, and however imperfect it may be, it is probably the only comprehensive system of its type in the world,” says Tweedy.

At the World Diamond Center in Antwerp, Director Philip Claes says that before the Kimberley Process, conflict diamonds accounted for 4 to 15 percent of rough diamonds traded worldwide. “Today, conflict diamonds account for only 0.2 percent of all rough diamonds traded worldwide,” says Claes.

The emphasis is on certifying the origin of the diamonds to weed out goods traded illegally. Annie Dunnebacke of Global Witness says it’s a good start but there are loopholes.

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