Conflict Diamond International Response
The International Response
The problem of conflict diamonds was first made public thanks to the efforts of several international NGOs, who bluntly denounced the links between the diamond trade and the wars in the African continent. NGOs played a major role in denouncing the trade of blood diamonds and ultimately demanding a response from those responsible. Notable about this campaign was its success in uniting unofficial diplomatic channels with a number of official as well as unofficial networks and connections to achieve its goal, thus employing what has been termed as multi-track diplomacy'(Grant & Taylor : 2004, 386).
The conflict diamonds campaign was, according to Global Witness, the combined efforts of multiple international NGOs …show more content…
World Vision ran a similar campaign with the powerful slogan of Dying for a diamond? So are thousands of innocent children'. These were definitely consciousness-raising campaigns for the consumer in the West (Taylor & Mokhawa: 2003, 268). In January 2000, Global Witness's report and the campaign by Fatal Transactions were given further relevance with publication of The Heart of the Matter: Sierra Leone, Diamonds and Human Security by Partnership Africa Canada (Taylor & Mokhawa: 2003, 268).This report showed that the conflict diamond issue was not limited to Angola, but was in fact a problem that affected Africa as a whole. The combination of this report with NGO pressure and US congressional hearings on the issue ultimately led to what became known as the Kimberley …show more content…
According to the KPCS, rough diamonds are those used by rebel movements or their allies to finance conflict aimed at undermining legitimate governments' (Pauwels: 2003, 7). Such definition implies that the conflict diamonds trade is limited to rebel movements or groups, which is not always the case. In the case of the Democratic Republic of Congo, this is certainly not true, since political and military elites of neighboring countries are recipients of much of the profit that result from the illicit trade (Pauwels: 2003,
The problem of conflict diamonds was first made public thanks to the efforts of several international NGOs, who bluntly denounced the links between the diamond trade and the wars in the African continent. NGOs played a major role in denouncing the trade of blood diamonds and ultimately demanding a response from those responsible. Notable about this campaign was its success in uniting unofficial diplomatic channels with a number of official as well as unofficial networks and connections to achieve its goal, thus employing what has been termed as multi-track diplomacy'(Grant & Taylor : 2004, 386).
The conflict diamonds campaign was, according to Global Witness, the combined efforts of multiple international NGOs …show more content…
World Vision ran a similar campaign with the powerful slogan of Dying for a diamond? So are thousands of innocent children'. These were definitely consciousness-raising campaigns for the consumer in the West (Taylor & Mokhawa: 2003, 268). In January 2000, Global Witness's report and the campaign by Fatal Transactions were given further relevance with publication of The Heart of the Matter: Sierra Leone, Diamonds and Human Security by Partnership Africa Canada (Taylor & Mokhawa: 2003, 268).This report showed that the conflict diamond issue was not limited to Angola, but was in fact a problem that affected Africa as a whole. The combination of this report with NGO pressure and US congressional hearings on the issue ultimately led to what became known as the Kimberley …show more content…
According to the KPCS, rough diamonds are those used by rebel movements or their allies to finance conflict aimed at undermining legitimate governments' (Pauwels: 2003, 7). Such definition implies that the conflict diamonds trade is limited to rebel movements or groups, which is not always the case. In the case of the Democratic Republic of Congo, this is certainly not true, since political and military elites of neighboring countries are recipients of much of the profit that result from the illicit trade (Pauwels: 2003,