Synthetic diamonds and the Kimberly Process fighting the last war

For a decade now the world has been engaged in what has been seen as a battle against blood diamonds i.e. diamonds that have been used to fund wars in countries like Sierra Leone, DRC and Angola. The Kimberly process, has been a unique but flawed example of an attempt at global co-operation by producers and consumers to stamp out blood diamonds. That the Kimberly process even succeeded in being established is because it was in just about everyone’s interest for it to do so. No-one in the diamond business needed these stones which are sold as symbols of love being associated with war and bloodshed. Moreover, the blessing of the World Trade Organisation and the UN to restrict the trade of blood diamond did much to help do what the De Beers cartel could no longer do in the 1990’s. Unfortunately not all went to plan as the Kimberly process did not come with a system of traceability.