3rd April 2007 - The truth behind the film: Blood Diamonds

Leonardo diCaprio brought the violence and suffering behind diamond production to the attention of cinema audiences around the world with the release last year of "Blood Diamond". Although the story was fictional, it was based on the harsh, criminal reality behind the production of some diamonds and prompted members of the public to contact MEPs to express their concerns. Linda McAvan has joined calls to see the rules tightened up by the European Union.

DiCaprio's film chronicles fictional events set against the true backdrop of Sierra Leone in the late 1990s, when the Revolutionary United Front attempted to overthrown the government of the country. It highlights how the RUF was financed through diamond sales. During the eleven year insurrection between 1991 and 2002 it is thought that some 200,000 people lost their lives.

In 2000, representatives of the major diamond trading nations, companies and campaign groups met in Kimberley, South Africa, to try to tackle the sale of so-called 'blood diamonds' and over the course of the next three years they agreed a scheme to establish an international diamond certification scheme. The Kimberley Process now covers more than seventy countries - which can only trade in rough diamonds with each other, and all these diamonds must be certified as being of conflict-free origin.

Despite this, lobbying organisations remain concerned that blood diamonds continue to be produced and sold, financing violent conflict, terrorism and human rights abuses, particularly in Africa (see note 4 below).

Linda McAvan said;

"It is perhaps hard to imagine that the diamonds we treasure so much can cause enormous suffering to the people who produce them, but the horrific nature of the Sierra Leone conflict - which forced more than a million people from their homes, and brought child soldiers into the most terrible violence - forced the world to confront the fact that they can. I know that many people living in my constituency have been shocked to discover the reality after seeing the film."

Since the establishment of the Kimberley Process, the diamond industry estimates that less than 1% of the diamonds traded this year will be blood diamonds, compared to 4% during the 1990s.

Ms McAvan added;

"If one in every two hundred diamonds sold today goes towards destabilising African governments and funding violence, that is one diamond too many. People should be able to buy diamonds without worrying that their money is headed for African warlords perpetrating terrible crimes. Jewellers should be able to prove the authenticity of the diamonds they sell. Nearly always this is the case  - but not in every single instance. We are pushing the EU to make the Kimberley Process more effective, and to end blood diamonds forever."

ENDS

Notes for editors:

1. Linda McAvan has signed Written Declaration 0021/2007 on Conflict Diamonds and the Kimberley Process. See http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//NONSGML+WDECL+P6-DCL-2007-0021+0+DOC+PDF+V0//EN&language=EN for the full Declaration.