Reflections on the Conviction of Charles Taylor, Blood Diamond Salesman
By B. Earth | May 2, 2012
In the annals of blood diamonds, few men have compiled a more horrific record than former Liberian President Charles Taylor. The warlord turned president used diamonds to instigate a bloody civil war in neighboring Sierra Leone that endured for 11 years. It is estimated that Taylor bears responsibility for the murder, rape, maiming, and mutilation of over 1.2 million people.
So it was welcome news last week when an international criminal court convicted Taylor on 11 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity. The historic verdict represents a victory for the international criminal justice system, a measure of justice for Taylor’s victims, and a symbolic moment in the fight against blood diamonds.
The Taylor case has drawn a good deal of international attention, not in the least because a key witness in the trial was supermodel Naomi Campbell, to whom Taylor once gave a blood diamond. Last week, his conviction became a top international news story. With Taylor’s conviction still in the public spotlight, it’s worth taking a moment to reflect on the severity of his crimes and to remember the role of diamonds in Sierra Leone’s civil war.
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Survey Finds Engagement Rings Cost Less in 2011
By B. Earth | April 18, 2012
Here’s some interesting news for engagement ring shoppers. On average, the price paid for an engagement ring fell 5 percent between 2010 and 2011, according to a survey conducted by TheKnot.com and WeddingChannel.com. In dollar terms, that meant a drop from $5,392 to $5,130 in the average cost of an engagement ring.
The annual survey, the latest of which involved participation from more than 18,000 couples who married in 2011, gathered data on a variety of wedding topics – ranging from wedding dresses to DJs to choice of venue. (Read the full survey results here.) However, the survey doesn’t seek to explain all the data it reports. That leaves us to wonder: why the drop in engagement ring spending?
It’s possible that the survey results represent a statistical blip. But assuming that the results are accurate and indicative of a trend, two main explanations come to mind: either engagement prices have declined or consumers are spending less. Since there hasn’t been a noticeable decline in prices, it stands to reason that consumers last year decided to spend a little less on engagement rings. But why is that? Read the rest of this entry »
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New Diamond Investment Fund Could Shape Lives of Diamond Diggers
By B. Earth | March 20, 2012
Most people buy diamonds as an expression of love. But there’s frequently a side benefit to a diamond purchase: diamonds are an excellent store of monetary value. Because diamonds tend to hold or increase their value over time, many people think that diamonds are a good long-term financial investment.
That premise seems to be the impetus behind a plan to create a new way to invest in diamonds – one that doesn’t involve ring shopping. A financial firm near New York City recently announced its intention to establish an exchange traded fund (ETF) – a passively indexed kind of investment fund – tied to the value of diamonds. Investors would be able to buy and sell shares of the diamond fund much like they do any stock. The fund would hold a giant store of actual diamonds in a vault in Antwerp, Belgium.
Investment analysts seem intrigued by the idea of an ETF for diamonds. We’re intrigued, too, but for different reasons. As a leading provider of ethical origin diamond jewelry, our question is: what would the fund mean for efforts to build a more humane, ethical diamond industry? Read the rest of this entry »
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At Kimberley Process Helm, U.S. May Try to Broaden “Conflict Diamond” Definition
By B. Earth | March 7, 2012
We’re not very optimistic that the Kimberley Process (KP), the international diamond certification scheme, can still be turned around. When the KP decided last November to lift the partial ban on Zimbabwean diamonds, its credibility sagged to a new and embarrassing low point. It’s hard to believe, but diamonds from Zimbabwe tainted by torture, rape, slave labor, and political corruption now receive “conflict free” certification from the KP.
At this point, is there any reason to be hopeful about the KP? Not really, but we do see one potential glimmer of hope. Every year, a different country among the 75 nations comprising the KP assumes leadership responsibility. It happens that the United States holds this leadership baton in 2012. The U.S. and Europe are the strongest voices in the KP for building a more robust diamond certification system. With the U.S. leading the KP, it may have a small chance to steer the KP in a different direction.
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What Apple Factory Controversy Means For Jewelry Supply Chain
By B. Earth | February 21, 2012
We’re in the jewelry business at Brilliant Earth, but we also follow efforts in other industries to improve labor and environmental standards. Lately, there has been a lot of public discussion about working conditions at the Chinese factories that produce Apple products. Press accounts, including a terrific series in the New York Times, have identified problems at Apple’s contract manufacturers including the use of underage workers, lax safety standards, crowded dormitories, and conditions so demoralizing that workers have committed suicide.
With the story now receiving a good deal of press attention, consumers have been making their voices heard. Protests have been staged at Apple stores around the world. A petition has been started at Change.org. All of this negative public attention has caused Apple to react. The gadget-maker has invited an auditor to inspect its factories. Apple CEO Tim Cook has been emphasizing the company’s commitment to responsible business practices. “We care about every worker in our worldwide supply chain,” he wrote in an e-mail to Apple employees.
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Brilliant Earth Debuts New Styles for Valentine’s Day
By B. Earth | February 3, 2012
If you’re searching for that perfect piece of Valentine’s Day jewelry, we’ve got a few good ideas in our quiver. Our design team has been hard at work, dreaming up lots of beautiful new jewelry styles! (Can you believe that’s our job?) As always, all of our jewelry is ethically-sourced. This means that it’s not just stunning to look at – deep down, it’s lovable too. Does this sound like someone you know? If so, read on.
Let’s first take a look at some pendants.
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Global Witness Withdrawal May Be Good News For Diamond Industry Reform
By B. Earth | January 20, 2012
Looking back at 2011, we’d say that the biggest news story, at least insofar as efforts to reform the diamond industry, was the Kimberley Process’s wrongheaded decision on Zimbabwe. In November, the international diamond certification scheme decided to lift a ban on diamond exports from Zimbabwe’s blood-stained Marange diamond fields. But there is another news story worth highlighting, a story whose long-term impacts could be just as significant: last month’s decision by Global Witness to withdraw from the Kimberley Process, in protest.
Global Witness helped found the Kimberley Process back in 2003. The same year, the group was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for its pioneering work on conflict diamonds. So a sad milestone was reached in December when Global Witness decided it had had enough. In the wake of the Kimberley Process decision on Zimbabwean diamonds, the group announced that it would no longer continue as a Kimberley Process participant and advisor. Global Witness did not mince words. In a press release, Global Witness founding director Charmian Gooch labeled the Kimberley Process “an accomplice to diamond laundering” and called the certification scheme’s approach to Zimbabwe “an outrage.” Read the rest of this entry »
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The One Percent Myth: The Diamond Industry Responds to Brilliant Earth
By B. Earth | December 7, 2011
Our last few blogs have discussed how the diamond industry relies on a deceptive statistic to convince consumers that diamond mining is now free from serious ethical abuses. We’ve called this statistic the one percent myth. The one percent myth is the misleading notion, heavily promoted by the diamond industry, that conflict diamonds make up “considerably less than one percent” of the diamond supply, or that more than 99% of diamonds are conflict free.
Last week, even before we’d gotten very far into our blog series, the diamond industry responded to us with a sharply worded message. The message is from the World Diamond Council (WDC), the organization representing most of the major corporations in the diamond industry. We’ve posted the WDC’s message below.
The diamond industry clearly isn’t happy with our blog series. But why is the diamond industry reacting so defensively? We believe it’s because our arguments ring true. We’ve been dismantling the one percent myth, point by point. And if consumers start to realize that they’ve been misled, a lot of them are going to react, with possibly disruptive consequences for the industry.
Before we get to the WDC’s response, let’s review what we’ve said in this blog series so far. We’ve shown how the only diamonds the diamond industry counts as conflict diamonds are the 0.2% of diamonds from Côte d’Ivoire. This statistic excludes diamonds tied to rape, torture, killings, and corruption in Angola and Zimbabwe – diamonds which could soon add up to 20% of the diamond supply, or more. The diamond industry’s statistic also fails to account for problems like child labor and the mass impoverishment of a million diamond diggers in Africa. In addition the one percent myth is an arbitrary statistic. A different statistic could easily be generated showing that almost all diamond jewelry is unethically sourced.
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The One Percent Myth: Debunking a Diamond Industry Statistic, Part IV
By B. Earth | December 5, 2011
We’re back with our discussion of the one percent myth – the misleading notion, promoted by the diamond industry, that conflict diamonds make up considerably less than one percent of the diamond supply.
In prior blogs, we’ve shown how the only diamonds that the diamond industry counts as conflict diamonds are those from Cote d’Ivoire, a small country in West Africa that produces 0.2% of the world’s diamonds. Missing from this count are diamonds from Angola and Zimbabwe – diamonds which are tainted by killings, torture, and rape. Together, these two countries could soon produce 20% of the diamond supply. We’ve also highlighted how the diamond industry doesn’t count diamonds tied to other serious human rights abuses – such as child labor and the mass impoverishment of a million diamond diggers.
Unfortunately, when jewelry consumers go shopping, they are frequently told that the diamond supply, thanks to the Kimberley Process, is now more than 99% conflict free. Little extra explanation is provided, leaving consumers to assume that serious human rights violations have been rooted out of the diamond supply. This practice can’t go on. We believe that if the diamond industry is going to use any statistic purporting to describe ethical conditions in diamond mining, it has a responsibility to include the concerns we’ve just highlighted.
How might it do this? One approach would be to raise the percentage of conflict diamonds it publicizes to a more realistic level – at minimum, including diamonds from Angola and Zimbabwe. Or, it might be more helpful and accurate to try entirely different statistical approaches as a proxy for ethical conditions in diamond mining.
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The One Percent Myth: Debunking a Diamond Industry Statistic, Part III
By B. Earth | December 2, 2011
This week, we’ve been discussing the notion that conflict diamonds make up “considerably less than 1%” of the global diamond supply. The World Diamond Council (WDC), the group representing the global diamond industry, prominently features this statistic on its web site, www.diamondfacts.org. Partly due to heavy promotion by the diamond industry, this statistic has gained widespread acceptance and legitimacy. Unfortunately, it’s misleading – misleading enough that we’ve dubbed it “the 1% myth.”
In our first blog in this series, we noted that the diamond industry defines “conflict diamond” in very narrow terms: as a diamond used by a rebel group to finance a civil war against a legitimate government. Using this definition, the diamond industry determines that the only diamonds that count as conflict diamonds are those from Côte d’Ivoire, and that conflict diamonds make up only 0.2% of the world’s diamond supply.
In our next blog, we discussed the diamonds the industry is failing to count – most notably, diamonds from Angola and Zimbabwe, which together could soon make up 20% of the diamond supply. These diamonds are tied to horrific killings, rape, and torture. However, the diamond industry does not count them because they are not associated with the right type of violence – that is, violence committed by rebel soldiers in a civil war context.
Should any other diamonds be counted as conflict diamonds? We believe so. But first, let’s talk a little more about how the 1% myth, in practice, misleads consumers.
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