Blood Diamonds

          Blood diamonds are a big problem, and if there is a way to stop, it we must do all we can. One potential way to halt blood diamond trafficking is to send military troops into small countries such as Sierra Leone, doing a search and destroy mission to shut down any and all blood diamond camps. This would have to be done secretely, and quietly, or else the camps will simply pack up for the duration. The UN should be the one to propose this, but the ones to perform the act should be countires with significant power, such as the UK and US. This would essentially be a sting operation.

 

          Another solution could be to devalue the diamond. Essentially, diamonds are only so popular because of marketing. I don't mean this term loosely, De Beers spend millions on marketing campaigns that coined the phrase, "Diamonds are forever." This worked too, because diamonds are now one of the most obsessed over pieces of jewlery ever. If the personal value of the diamond diminished significantly, people would stop buying, and therefore blood diamond cartels would not be making money. However, is this really a solution? My theory is, if the value of the diamond goes down, something else's value will go up, skyrocket even. And that may open up windows for other illegal activities. This SHOULD be done by diamond companies, althought that is not going to happen, so it must be done by the people, in mass amounts. This could be done by spreading campaigns revealing why diamonds have no real value, and that another gem or no gem could have the same sentimental value.

 

          Finally, the problem could be solved by somehow fixing the loophole in The Kimberley Process. This would have to be done by the UN. I do not know how this would be done, however. Another solution however, is setting up designated diamond mines that ALL the distributed diamonds come from. So, the diamonds are tracked from mine to store, and if they don't check out, it is not bought, and not put into distribution. This could be done by diamond companies, as well as private investors. But it would have to be agreed upon by everyone.