The British supermodel Naomi Campbell could be summoned to give evidence at an UN-backed International Criminal Court in The Netherlands over allegations that she received a rough “blood diamond” from Liberia’s former president Charles Taylor in 1997.
The United Nations (UN) defines blood diamonds – or ‘conflict diamonds’ – as “diamonds that originate from areas controlled by forces or factions opposed to legitimate and internationally recognised governments, and are used to fund military action in opposition to those governments, or in contravention of the decisions of the Security Council”.
Charles Taylor is on trial on accusations of arming the rebel Revolutionary United Front (RUF) during the 1991-2001 civil war in neighbouring Sierra Leone in exchange for blood diamonds. Prosecutors asked UN judges yesterday to force Ms Campbell to provide material evidence that Taylor was in possession of rough diamonds at the time.
An estimated 120,000 people lost their life during the war in Sierra Leone, with tens of thousands more brutally mutilated. The civil war in Sierra Leone was the subject of the 2007 film ‘Blood Diamond’, featuring Leonardo DiCaprio.
Although the war in Sierra Leone has ended, there is evidence that Robert Mugabe’s regime benefits from the sale of illegally mined diamonds from the Easter Zimbabwean region of Marange, the world’s largest known concentration of diamonds in the world.
Adrie van der Luijt, Press Officer for DiamondManufacturers.co.uk, said:
“It is important to emphasise that the accusations involving Charles Taylor and Naomi Campbell relate to 1997. Since then the diamond trade and United Nations have taken decisive action to reassure customers that the diamonds they buy have not funded terror and suffering.”
“At DiamondManufacturers.co.uk all our diamonds are conflict-free and come with written guarantees. We deal directly with sight holders of the Diamond Trading Company (DTC) whom adhere to a strict code of practice which controls the whole supply chain from mine to us.”
“The DTC requires its clients to be 100% committed to the Kimberley Process, an international certification scheme launched in 2003 that makes it illegal to trade in conflict diamonds. Kimberley Process members account for approximately 99.8% of the global production of rough diamonds.”
“DiamondManufacturers.co.uk not only guarantees that every single one of its diamonds is 100% Kimberley Process compliant, but also produced ethically and responsibly according to environmental and social best practice principles. Unfortunately the same cannot always be said of diamond jewellery bought on shopping trips outside the European Union.”
“Only diamonds that are certified and can be traced from the mine to the consumer are conflict-free diamonds. Customers are advised to remain vigilant and buy only from reputable diamond jewellery retailers within the EU.”
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NOTES TO EDITORS
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