I heart Bling Bling?!

THE FOLLOWING ENTRY WILL BE BORING FOR SOME. THIS ENTRY WILL RAISE CONTROVERSY AS IT DEALS WITH THE WORLD AND CONSUMERS. AS WE ARE CONSTANTLY SATISFYING OUR CARVINGS AS WELL AS VANITY, IN ORDER TO PURSUE THE LARGEST STONE THAT WE CAN PUT OUR MONEY INTO WITHOUT REALISING THE CRUEL BRUTALITY THAT IS HAPPENING BEHIND THE SCENES. THERE IS A NEED TO CREATE SUCH AWARENESS OF SUCH ISSUES.

"Diamonds are a girl's best friend." ~ Most of us would remember Marilyn Monroe's version. However, many of us will only realise how blood is related to diamonds through the 'Blood Diamond' movie. Perhaps, most of us think that these scenes from the movie are unreal but this is the whole truth. Please wake up, people!

Blood diamond (also called a converted diamond, conflict diamond, hot diamond or a war diamond) refers to a diamond mined in a war zone and sold to finance an insurgency, invading army's war efforts, or a warlord's activity, usually in Africa.

This entry is so not related to my daily life. However, I thought bloggers in this community should start from ourselves by raising awareness when we want to buy a bling.

In fact, I was contemplating of writing this and the type of trouble that I may invite. I was trembling in fear when I was writing this entry. However, the urge and courage of creating awareness of this issue just kept me going. What inspired me to write this was watching a documentary relating to blood diamonds (couldnt recall the title; is from History Channel) and this was not the 1st time watching this. Each time, my heart will break coz you will see dead bodies lying on the streets or amputees moving around. This is real and the cause of this is DIAMONDS.

Diamonds are untraceable (According to HRD, it records the origin of a diamond as the country from which the diamond was last exported) once these leave the origin and are easily transferable to various parties. The best mode of payment to financed a war and destroying people's lives as well as their livelihoods (including amputating their limbs, etc) is none other than diamonds. These were linked with certain groups of people. Civilians captured in the war were forced to pan the diamonds are not working in the best conditions in the world. The water was usually contaminated (they had to do their 'business' there) and it could lead to diseases spreading. These captured victims were working at gun point. Maybe, many consumers do not realised that these are human lives and families destroyed.

Right now, the situation may be better as there is an introduction of Kimberley Process Certification Scheme. However, the biggest weakness of the Kimberly Process is how it is monitored. Any country can become a member of the Kimberley Process by sending a letter to the organization's president, currently, the European Commission. Whether the country meets the standards of the Kimberley Process, it can still become a member.This means that many conflict diamonds are still getting past the Kimberly Certification Scheme because some countries don't meet the requirements of the Kimberley Process.



THIS ENTRY IS NOT TO DISSUADE CONSUMERS TO BUY BLINGS. IT IS TO CREATE AWARENESS OF ASKING FOR A WARRANTY / CERTIFICATION OF SOME FORM WHEN BUYING A BLING TO ENSURE THAT IT IS A CONFLICT-FREE DIAMOND.

Here are some shots from the documentary.