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As a Congolese woman, I am saddened by questions like these.Why?Because “Blood Diamond” is a not a good representation of Africa but specific regions of African countries like my own, the DRC, where it is entirely and sadly true.The movie reflects a reality for a large number of people who live in conflict-zones where localized conflicts are instilled and aggravated by multi-nationals and their “trade partners” known as African warlords. The warlords controlled specific regions thanks to militia groups using sophisticated weapons and arms supplied through the black market.There are localized conflicts in the DR Congo, particularly in northeastern DRC. DR Congo is a huge country with the size of Western Europe. It has two time zones. To travel to northeastern Congo, you have to take a three hour flight from Kinshasa over the Congo rainforest, the second earth’s lung after the Amazon rainforest.The roots of war in eastern CongoThe Guardian's award winning Africa correspondent, Chris McGreal, explains why Congo's borderlands with Rwanda have become one of the continent's deadliest conflict zonesThe “Blood Diamond” magnate who is at the center of Och-Ziff’s bribery scandal in AfricaBy Lily KuoSeptember 30, 2016This article is more than 2 years old.The United States’ first foreign-bribery case against a hedge fund is full of dramatic detail.More than $100 million (paywall) in bribes, sometimes bags stuffed with cash, was paid from one of New York’s best known hedge funds, Och-Ziff Management Capital, to corrupt officials in Libya, Zimbabwe, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and other African countries.A private Airbus was rented for a Guinean official while two officials from Niger received an S-Class Mercedes sedan each. Bribes are discussed in casual shorthand over text message: “Yip. Pay the 77m, and we pay 2m withim [sic] 24hr,” one employee wrote of funds to help facilitate a deal in Guinea in 2011.In a settlement agreed this week, after a five-year investigation, Och-Ziff will pay a $413 million fine to settle criminal and civil charges over paying these bribes to African governments for mining and other natural resource deals and investments.The company’s Africa unit has pleaded guilty to being part of a scheme to bribe DRC officials. Daniel Och, founder and chief executive of Och-Ziff, will pay $2.2 million for a record keeping violation. The company’s chief financial officer, Joel Frank, will also be settling charges that he ignored signs of corruption.The settlement is one of the largest under the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which prohibits US companies from paying foreign officials, directly or indirectly, in exchange for business deals. Yet one key player—Och-Ziff’s partner in the DRC—has so far remained unscathed.In a court filing (pdf), the SEC describes him as an ”infamous Israeli businessman with close ties to government officials at the highest level within the DRC.” An Och-Ziff attorney described in an email in 2008 as “perhaps the impetus behind the movie Blood Diamonds [sic].”The way that minerals are mined affects conflict in eastern CongoThe way that minerals are mined affects conflict in eastern CongoAuthorsMarijke VerpoortenAssociate Professor, University of AntwerpNik StoopPost-doctoral researcher, KU LeuvenPeter van der WindtAssistant Professor of Political Science, New York UniversityAn artisanal mine. Fairphone/FlickrStrong evidence links the mining of minerals to local conflict in several African countries. This is because minerals are prized by rebel groups and are a source of their financing. Examples include the “blood diamonds” that were used to finance armed groups in Sierra Leone and Liberia.But existing research makes no distinction on how the two main types of mineral extraction – artisanal and industrial mining – affect conflict. Making this distinction is important. Doing so means policymakers can direct interventions towards reducing conflict.Artisanal mining generally refers to the manual extraction of minerals. It’s often controlled by local elites. It provides working opportunities for up to 20 million people in Africa alone. Industrial mining is mechanised; practised by large, often international, companies. It has close relations with national elites but only provides a few jobs to low-skilled workers.In our recent study, we looked at how two events – changes in world prices of minerals and a surge in industrial mining – affected local conflict in eastern Congo between 2004 and 2015. We found that artisanal and industrial mining had different impacts.In the case of artisanal mines, when mineral prices rose there were more battles between armed groups over the mines. By contrast, when industrial mining was established there were fewer. But we also saw that the expansion of industrial mines triggered riots and also increased violence against civilians.Our findings highlight a need for more security measures at artisanal mining sites. They should be secured, as the industrial sites are, with the help of the Congolese mining police and army to ensure less violence.Linking extraction modes to local conflictWe focused on eastern Congo because it has high rebel activity, high levels of conflict and is well-known for its mineral deposits, mainly gold and the ‘3T minerals’ – tin, tungsten, and tantalum. These three are commonly found in electronics products. It also has a huge database on artisanal mining sites and their locations.Currently, about 382 000 artisanal miners dig for minerals in eastern Congo’s 2,700 mining sites. Because there are so many, the central government struggles to get a grip on them. The minerals they dig up are easily smuggled out of the country, escaping formal taxation. Artisanal mining should take place in clearly demarcated zones. But very few of these exist and only 1% of artisanal miners operate in them. The majority (61%) operate on industrial concessions.To study the link between the mode of mineral extraction and local conflict, we overlay the map of eastern Congo with 2,176 grid cells of 25 by 25 km. For each cell we established whether artisanal and/or industrial mining was present. In total we examined data on 2,026 artisanal mining sites, 3,695 large-scale mining concessions and 6,542 conflict events that occurred between 2004 and 2015.We explored how variations in conflict events – like battles between armed actors, violence against civilians, riots and looting – related to changes in the Congolese mining sector. Specifically, variations in world mineral prices and a surge in the granting of industrial mining concessions.There are other factors that affect violence. But we isolated the impact of prices by studying monthly changes in violence and controlled for all common changes across grid cells – like elections – and for all fixed factors within each cell – like geography.As for the relationship with rising industrial mines, a change in the mining code in 2002 triggered a huge rise in industrial permits – from 237 to 3,368 research permits and 82 to 327 production permits. This allowed us to investigate the sector’s relationship to conflict.Different forms of violenceWe found that both extraction modes, and how they interacted with each other, led to different forms of violence.A rise in global mineral prices led to increased battles, attacks against civilians and looting around artisanal mining sites. We believe this was because of competition between armed groups. Armed actors – like rebels or government soldiers – were present in about 56% of artisanal mining sites.In contrast, at industrial sites, changes in mineral prices had little to no effect on conflict. Our interpretation is that companies can protect their concession against armed groups with the help of private security forces and the Congolese Mining Police and Congolese Army. This also decreased battles between armed actors.However, a move to the industrial production phase increased incidences of violent actions from miners against the company.Industrial companies try to address artisanal miners, who often operate on their concessions, with carrots – like corporate social responsibility programs – and sticks, such as forced removal. But the carrots aren’t enough to accommodate the vast number of miners and the sticks often backfire.Moreover, where industrial production activities expand into areas used by artisanal miners, we found an increase in attacks against civilians and looting. We are currently doing research on this. We believe it’s because armed actors and/or miners who previously profited from artisanal mining try to find other sources of income, such as theft or by levying taxes at roadblocks.Policy implicationsGovernments and policy-prescribers – like the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, which inform the design of mining policies – tend to favour industrial mining over artisanal mining because of its superior revenue-generating potential for the government.While the relation between mineral price increases and local conflict at artisanal sites, and its relative absence at industrial sites, may add to the arguments of those who seek to replace artisanal by industrial mining, there are other important considerations.First, a major difference between artisanal and industrial sites is that mining companies, being backed by the government and national army, are able to secure their concessions. But this is a political choice: there is nothing inherent about artisanal sites that prevents the same type of security. The Ministry of Mines should revise the mining code to formalise and accommodate artisanal mining. It should also employ the army to secure artisanal sites. But first the army must be “sanitised”; it’s currently corrupt and is itself involved in illegal taxing and trafficking of minerals mined by artisans.Second, any policy to expand industrial mining should incorporate measures that protect local mining communities and mitigate unintended economic and social effects, including the effect on the behaviour of armed actors.Global Affairs STRATEGIC STUDIES - Universidad de NavarraThe diamond industry has its main world centre in the Belgian city of AntwerpANALYSIS / Jokin de Carlos SolaThe diamond trade moves hundreds of millions of euros every year around the globe. Most of them come from third world countries were the diamonds are extracted by very hard means. Even today, diamonds coming from conflict zones and used to finance conflicts and violence are a significant part of the market. Nowadays the production is mainly sold in cities of the United States and Europe and most of those diamonds in some way or another end up passing through the city of Antwerp in Belgium, showing that the Dutch and Belgians still have certain control over the industry.This text will explore the origins of the city of Antwerp as a centre in the diamond market and of the control by Dutch and Belgians of this particular business; then it will analyse this industry in the new globalised era, and finally explain the relation of the city of Antwerp and the trade of blood diamonds.Low Lands, a land of diamondsUntil the 19th century most diamonds came to Europe from India through the ports of Bruges, Antwerp and Amsterdam. The origins of the Low Countries as a centre of diamond craft and trade comes from the 15th century. In 1475 a Flemish jeweller, named Lodewyck van Bercken, invented the scaif, a polishing wheel infused with diamond dust and olive oil. This made easier the cutting of a diamond and revolutionised the industry. Bercken was a protégée of Duke Charles de Bold and his techniques were spread all around the Low Countries. For the next years Antwerp and Amsterdam became big competitors in the diamond trade.In the 17th century Amsterdam was the most important city in Europe concerning diamonds. Because of the religious tolerance of the Netherlands, many Sephardic Jews established themselves in the city moving from Antwerp. There they had acquired knowledge working with diamond due to the guild-system, for the only industry that they were allowed to work in was the diamond industry.In 1725 diamonds were discovered in Brazil and most of them went through Amsterdam. During the 19th century over 90% of rough diamonds sold in Europe passed through the Dutch city. Due to the colonial power of the Netherlands, the Dutch diamond trade extended over the world, specially to New Amsterdam (New York) and Cape Town, which would become vital bases of the international diamond trade in the 20th and the 21st century. However, after the mines in Brazil started to dry up and the power of the Netherlands began to fade Amsterdam started to lose importance in favour of Antwerp, its biggest rival on the diamond industry, also a culturally Dutch city that would become the diamond's capital of the world. During its golden age Amsterdam developed a high-quality craft industry, but Antwerp managed to be as effective and cheaper as well as more permissive regarding taxes.In 1866 diamonds were discovered in South Africa, in the Transvaal region, an area mainly populated by Dutch settlers. At the same time the British magnate Cecil Rhodes created the diamond company De Beers, based in Johannesburg. Massive amounts of rough diamonds started then to arrive to Europe, through Cape Town and Antwerp.By the beginning of the 20th century De Beers controlled over 90% of the diamond industry in the world. In 1927 the company passed from the hands of Cecil Rhodes to the ones of Ernst Oppenheimer, a white South African entrepreneur, whose family still controls the diamond trade around the world.During the Second World War most Jews from both Amsterdam and Antwerp were either forced to flee or were sent to extermination camps. This had hard consequences on an industry that was mainly controlled by the Jewish community. After the war, Antwerp quickly rebuilt its diamond business.In 1948, De Beers established a new marketing strategy: it presented diamonds as a symbol of love and marriage, with the motto “a diamond is forever”. A ring with a diamond became the perfect wedding present and it was advertised extensively. This new strategy increased the demand of diamonds, especially in the United States, where not just the economic elite was buying them, but it was also the aspiration of the high-middle class and even of the middle class. As result, De Beers experienced it biggest growth in history turning Antwerp the indisputable capital of the diamond industry.In 1973 the Antwerp Diamond World Centre (ADWC) was established. It is a public/private corporation, founded by the Belgian government and the most important diamond companies in the city. The Diamond Office, an ADWC’s subsidiary, facilitates the import and export of diamonds in and out of Antwerp.Antwerp's diamond industryThe Antwerp's diamond industry is concentrated in a part of the city called the diamond district or Diamantkwartier, which covers a complete square mile. According to the ADWC, 84% of the rough diamonds and 50% of the polished ones pass through Antwerp. In 2012 the turnover of the Diamantkwartier was 54 billion euros. Over 16 billion dollars in polished diamonds pass through the district's exchanges each year. There are 380 workshops that serve 1,500 companies. There are also 3,500 brokers, merchants and diamond cutters. The main actions taken in Antwerp are both the trade of rough and cut diamonds and the cut of rough diamonds with modern machinery. They also perform other jobs like applying colour and crafting jewellery. There is even a bank consecrated to the diamond industry, the Antwerp Diamond Bank, which is owned by the KBC Bank.Traditionally the Jewish community had almost complete control over the diamond business in Antwerp. More than 80% of Antwerp's Jewish population works in the diamond trade. In fact for many years the Yiddish was considered the main language of the diamond exchange. No business is conducted on Saturdays. However, since the late 20th century many Indian, Arminian and Lebanese dealers have increased importance in Antwerp’s diamond trade.For Belgium, the importance of Antwerp as the diamond capital of the world has been a source of economic incomes and great prestige. The diamond trade counts for 5% of Belgium's exports to the EU and 15% of its exports outside the EU; it is the 5th largest industry in the country. It also has been the reason for a lot of foreign investment.During the last decade several other cities outside Western Europe have invested on their diamond industry, like Tel Aviv, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Chicago and several cities in South Africa. However, Antwerp still is the most important trade centre in Europe, being Amsterdam its biggest competitor.In 2017 Antwerp traded 46 billion dollars in diamonds, with a total of 233.6 million of carats. This figures meant a slight improvement, aided by the approval of the Diamond Regime by the Belgian Parliament. This law changed the way of taxation and ended up benefiting the diamond companies of Belgium.Diamonds and political corruptionBecause of its size and the profits it generates, the diamond industry has a lot of influence in Belgian politics, especially in Flanders. It acts as a lobby in favour of specific bills and policies and tries to avoid an increase of regulations. An example of this is when in 1986 an investigation was opened on the business of Abraham Kirschen, who reportedly sold diamonds in the black market to avoid taxation. According to the media, some conservative politicians were linked to the scheme and some 170 diamond traders were investigated for evading a billion dollars in taxes through a bank account in Geneva. The case ended up implicating the second largest diamond company after De Beers, Omega Diamond, and most of the Belgian political establishment. The AWDC rapidly distanced itself from the scandal at the beginning of the controversy, which was to closed without having much negative impact in the industry.Following this and other scandals, the Belgian government managed to impose more regulations, in order to rule a business that traditionally has shown a lack of transparency and has been prone to tax evasion. But the diamond lobby has been very active and through its political influence has scored some victories. In 2011 it achieved its main goal: the change of the Belgian criminal law.In 2008 the biggest fraud of a diamond company was discovered by Belgian authorities. The company was Omega Diamonds, established only in 1994 by the Belgian Sylvian Goldberg. The company became the second biggest diamond company after De Beers and had for many years the monopoly of the diamond exports from Angola. An investigation started in 2006 concluded that the company had created a tax fraud scheme. Omega Diamonds imported diamonds from Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo through Dubai into Antwerp. During the transfer, documents were manipulated allowing the company to conceal the origin of the diamonds. It ordered the shipment of diamonds purchased in Angola and the DRC to be delivered to entities located in Dubai. Upon arrival in Dubai the diamonds were repacked and exported to Antwerp. The new shipment, marked “diamonds of mixed origin”, was issued with an invoice addressed to Omega Diamonds wherein the value of the diamonds was artificially increased. In so doing, the company was able to hide its additional profit from Belgian tax authorities.In October 2008, Belgian federal police raided the premises of Antwerp-based Omega Diamonds. The raids resulted in a record seizure of 150 million dollars worth diamonds. Companies in Antwerp started to fear similar scrutiny from Belgian courts and the federal police. Because of this, the AWDC asked for political support, and it got help from some politicians, who accused law enforcement of “damaging the reputation” of the diamond industry. A bill meant to block law enforcement from confiscating illegal diamonds, written by AWDC’s lawyers, was introduced by members of the most important political parties of the Belgian establishment.In December 2010, the sponsors of the 2008 bill became members of a secretive group, “The Diamond Club”, in order to push this legislation, which passed in 2011. According to the law, diamond companies investigated by fraud could avoid prison by paying a sum of money to the public prosecutor, as well as fight back the judicial backlog, and prevent, in many cases, a deeper investigation.In application of the law, Omega Diamonds agreed in 2013 to pay a settlement of 160 million euros to avoid being prosecuted for tax evasion and money laundering, all that for a fraud that is calculated to have been of over 2 billion euros. The settlement cleared Omega Diamonds of all charges.The law was controversial, to say the least, and it became very unpopular in Belgium, mainly because almost all parties were involved in it. In 2016 the Federal Constitutional Court of Belgium declared unconstitutional most parts of it. In 2017, the Belgian Parliament set up an inquiry commission to investigate the relation between the law of 2011 and the diamond industry. The commission stated that the blueprint of the law was written by lawyers for the AWDC, but at the moment it hasn't investigated the relations of various politicians with the diamond industry.Blood diamondsA blood diamond is the one that is extracted from conflict zones and used for financing wars or violent actions. They have been a very common threat to the image of the diamond industry and nowadays there is a big effort by various diamond companies of tracking the origin of the stones, in order to avoid scandals. However, during the 1980s and 1990s blood diamonds worth millions of dollars flooded from Angola and Sierra Leone to Antwerp, something that still happens today.Diamonds have a very big value, that’s common knowledge, but in fact a big reason for this value comes from a strategy started by De Beers and followed by other diamond companies. This strategy consists of acquiring the monopoly of diamonds in a certain region and putting them in the market in a way that prices will always remain high. This was firstly done by Cecil Rhodes, and the diamonds in South Africa. If all the diamonds were put in the market at the same time their price will decrease. With this the company always got a big revenue.Before the Angolan Civil War (1975-2002) there was not much concern on what was the origin of the stones. However, during this war the UNITA group started to use the diamonds extracted in their territory to fund its war against the government. This made diamonds a reason for instability and provided violent groups with weaponry. Because of this there was a big international pressure for the ending of the trading of the Angolan diamonds in 1998, by the UN Security Council resolution 1173.A similar situation happened in Sierra Leone with RUF group and its war against government (1991-2002). It is calculated that the RUF extracted yearly a total of 125 million dollars every year. This money was used to fund a war were the RUF committed a series of crimes such as rape, mass killings or mutilations. In the year 2000 the UN Security Council imposed sanctions on diamonds from Sierra Leone.Even though these sanctions were harmful for both rebel movements a report written by Robert Fowler, chairman of the Security Council committee investigating violations of sanctions on Angola, informed the UN that blood diamonds were still being exported from these countries, most of them arriving to Antwerp, where they were sold in the international mark…Child labour in diamond mines in the DR Congo - SwedwatchThe Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), is one of the leading diamond producing countries in the world. As widely documented, however, many diamonds that are extracted are done so under difficult conditions. The diamonds are part of a global million-dollar industry that includes markets in Euro. As traceability is difficult, it is difficult to say that diamonds from the DRC do not end up in the supply chains of jewellery companies in Sweden.Swedwatch has visited the DRC’s isolated diamond regions in order to investigate the occurrence of child labour in the artisanal mines. The results of the study, published in the report ”Childhood Lost – Diamond mining in the Republic of the Congo and weaknesses of the Kimberley Process”, are discouraging. Of 49 interviewees, mostly children and adult mine workers, only one person, a government representative, denied that child labour occurs in the mines. In the region, children, primarily boys, often start working in the mines from about ten years old in order to afford schooling and food. Once they turn 14 the work becomes heavier and this leads children to often being unable to cope with school as well. Instead, they start working full-time and forego education. Girls in the mining areas are especially exposed to risks. According to interviewees, forced marriages from the age of twelve is common for many girls in the region.The report also highlights the extensive flaws regarding traceability of the origin of the diamonds. In order determine how Swedish jewellery companies address the human rights risks of the diamond industry, Swedwatch asked seven Swedish jewellery companies about their sustainability work. The results indicate that their implementation of applicable frameworks, particularly as regards human rights due diligence, is low, despite the extractives industry being an extremely high-risk sector from a human rights perspective. This has been well documented in the past as regards the DRC but also, for example, as regards Angola and Sierra Leone.Most jewellery companies refer to the so-called Kimberley Process, the certification available with the most significant reach. However, the certification is internationally criticised since it only regulates that diamonds are not financing armed conflict and it does not include criteria to prevent, for example, child labour or promote the respect of human rights. Therefore, the Kimberley Process’s definition of an unethical diamond does not reflect the current conditions in many mining areas today.The report provides recommendations to private and public actors. For example, Swedwatch urges companies to implement procedures for identifying and preventing possible adverse impacts on human rights in their supply chains. The companies are also encouraged to use existing practical tools, developed by the UN and OECD, in order to address risks. Additionally, they should demand that the Kimberley Process is reformed to include OECD’s guidelines for responsible supply chains of minerals. By working together in a broad and cross-border coalition, the surrounding world can take the rightful responsibility and form strategies to make living conditions better for those who are the most vulnerable.….