Soul Economy

While I watched the movie Blood Diamonds some time ago it is one of those movies that I continue to think about. So, I was very pleased to read an article recently about the fair trade jewellery movement.

The Sun Herald reports that ethical gold jewellery accounts for less that 1% of the global $56 billion gold jewellery trade, however, I expect this will grow with the rise of ethical consumerism. And in fact, the global Association for Responsible Mining (ARM) and The Fairtrade Foundation are working to develop the ethical gold concept and hope to have the first certified gold products during 2009.

I decided to conduct my own research on fair trade jewellery and in particular “blood diamonds” (or “conflict diamonds”) – who knows I might be in the market for a nice ring soon! They became known as “blood diamonds” following the use of diamonds by some African countries to fund armed movements against legitimate governments and, in the process, creating many human rights abuses.

The good news is that the Diamond Guild Australia reports that illegitimately sourced diamonds now account for less than 1% of the world’s diamond supply, down from 4% at the height of the problem in the late 1990s.

Thanks to the efforts of the diamond industry working with international governments, the UN and other humanitarian, 2 programs have been established to ensure only legitimately sourced diamonds are traded – the Kimberley Process Certification System (KP) and the System of Warranties (SoW).

The Kimberley Process (KP), of which 74 countries are involved including Australia, is an international certification scheme that regulates the trade of rough diamonds. As a component of this, the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS), mandates that the countries involved in the KP use a certificate system by which rough diamonds are certified to have been mined in a conflict free environment. To find out more visit www.diamonds.net/fairtrade/faqs.aspx#LL

Under the SoW program, once imported and ready to be traded, a written statement must accompany all invoices, guaranteeing that the diamonds or diamond jewellery being sold are from legitimate sources.

All Diamond Guild of Australia members comply with these programs. So, if you are in the market for a legitimately sourced diamond, check out the full list of their members at www.diamondguild.com.au/members

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