Conflict Free Diamonds

Conflict free diamonds are guaranteed to originate from socially and environmentally responsible sources. Conflict free diamonds are not associated with violence and human rights abuses.

What is a Conflict Diamond?

Our Conflict Free Guarantee

We offer conflict free Canadian diamonds for our clients who feel this is an important issue. They are carefully tracked from the mine in Canada through cutting, polishing, and transport. This ensures that our conflict free diamonds enter an uninterrupted chain of custody, and our supply is not corrupted by illicit or conflict diamonds.

Many other retailers make vague claims that their diamonds are conflict free but have no such certification process to guarantee the ethical source of their diamonds. Because each of our conflict free diamonds are tracked from the mine to the customer, we can be confident that no diamond treatments or alterations have been used.

All of our conflict free diamonds have certification policies compliant with one of the three leading bodies for Canadian origin diamonds: CanadaMark, Canadian Diamond Code of Conduct, or the Government of the Northwest Territories. These policies provide independent tracking and monitoring to give you the peace of mind to know your diamond is conflict free.

Conflict Diamond Issues

Fueling Conflict

Since the beginning of the 20th century, diamond-rich regions have endured unspeakable destruction for their wealth. The conflict diamond trade has dealt permanent scars to people and nations around the world, fueling bloody civil wars, human rights abuses, child labor and terrorist organizations. Despite widespread acknowledgement in the industry of their existence, these conflict diamonds have been smuggled into other regions and now are indistinguishable from the rest of the supply. Until now, it has been nearly impossible to verify the origin of diamonds and the conditions in which they are produced. The diamond industry’s attempt to address the problem of conflict diamonds has resulted in the Kimberley Process which has been deemed woefully inadequate by independent NGOs and government monitoring bodies.

Terrorism In 2003

FBI reports surfaced in the Washington Post linking Al Qaeda money-laundering efforts to the rough diamond trade in Africa. At the time of the 1998 bombings of the United States embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, Osama bin Laden's terrorist network began buying diamonds from the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) of Sierra Leone.

Current Conflict

Exploitation of Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC’s) natural resources have financed violent conflicts which have resulted in over 3 million deaths since 1998. In 2004, the DRC was stripped of its status as a legal diamond dealer. Although its official production was just 50,000 carats a year, it was exporting three to five million carats with the discrepancy likely attributable to conflict diamonds. Liberian diamonds, although subject to UN sanctions, were being certified by the Kimberley Process in 2005 and smuggled through neighboring countries to international markets.

In November 2005, the UN Security Council discovered that diamonds from Cote d’Ivoire were being mined and sold to fund violent conflict in rebel-held regions. Contrary to Cote d’Ivoire’s official reports, the UN found that approximately 300,000 carats per year were being illicitly exported from neighboring countries. Cote d”ivoire had been a partipant in the Kimberly Process since its inception.

The Kimberley Process

After much media attention and public outcry, the Kimberley Process was created in 2003 to address the problem of conflict diamonds. Member countries of the Kimberley Process pledge not to import or export rough diamonds tainted by conflict.