Joho the Blog
An Entry from the Archives

David, having done extensive research into the diamond industry, the Kimberley Process, and the problem of conflict diamonds a few months ago while contemplating the purchase of an engagement ring, I found that there are almost no merchants in the world who are taking what I consider even minimally adequate moral action to prevent subsidizing genocide and exploitation. Endorsement of the Kimberley Process is a good first step, but not nearly enough to discharge a merchant's moral obligations when participating in a diamond industry so weighted down with reprehensible business practices and tied inextricably to its horribly exploitative past (and present).

I did find one company that I considered not just adequate, but quite actively responsible, in its practices: Igloo Diamonds, a company in Montreal mining and processing diamonds entirely within Canada and donating a sizable portion of each sale to the Adopt-a-Minefield program. Diamonds that travel internationally for polishing and cutting (as every diamond sold in the US, and almost every diamond sold in Canada, does) cannot reliably be tracked, written asurances and certificates aside. This is partially a consequence of the Kimberley Process's lack of government oversight; there is no policing of the process and no way to guarantee that diamonds were not mined by children, under exploitative conditions, or on behalf of warlords.

Canada's diamond-processing industry is in its infancy, and the polishing may not be up to the standards of the specialists in Antwerp. But the ring I ended up buying from Igloo is beautiful; I certainly am unable to distinguish between their product and that of the bigger diamond houses.

I urge you to read about the problems with the current diamond industry and the Kimberley Process at Amnesty International and Global Witness. And if you're recommending socially responsible diamond merchants to readers, I urge you to point them toward Igloo until other vendors emerge who take their moral responsibilities seriously.

Disclosure: No, I'm not a shill for Igloo. I just really liked their product and their customer service.

Thanks, Matt. I was hoping someone who knows more about this than I would step in.