Butterflies
Have An Ethical Engagement
Love and no conflict diamonds are all you need.
A wedding is a happy time, a time for drunken strangers to come together in Vegas, a time for Internets to catfish lonely spinsters out of green cards, for gold diggers and horny octogenarians to get their hands on what they want, for cousins to shrink the gene pool, for closeted homosexuals to make an ill-fated stand against the inevitable. I’m getting misty-eyed just thinking about it.
If I know your partner (and I do, intimately) I know their heart’s in the right place. I know when you pop the question and offer unto them the ring that will forever symbolise your union they’ll have but one thought running through their mind: what are the moral implications here? It’s a good question. After all, the key to a successful marriage is to start as you mean to go on. For example, if you plan to cheat repeatedly on your partner it’s best to mention it up front, see how it goes down. Equally, if you plan to be insufferably self-righteous your starting point is an ethically sourced engagement ring.
Assuming you’re following tradition rather than thinking for yourself your ring will need a diamond. Here’s where the butter starts flying: in the late 1990s and early 2000s the world noticed diamonds were often mined and refined in appalling conditions and used to fund conflicts in Angola, Côte D’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Liberia and Sierra Leone. Buy a rock from your local ring emporium, you could be funding weapons for child soldiers or chipping in for pitiful wages and supporting inhuman working conditions.
The Kimberley Process Certification Scheme is the industry’s safeguard, aiming to ensure conflict diamonds are removed from the market. Established in 2003 and supported by United Nations resolutions, KPCS boasts 55 industry members from 82 countries accounting for an estimated 99.8% of the rough diamond market. That’s nice and all, but like everyone with a couple of brain cells and a half decent memory we don’t have much faith in industry self-regulation. Despite progress, Global Witness and Amnesty International say the Kimberley Process’s definition of conflict diamonds is too narrow, leaving loopholes for tons of human rights abuses in supply chains including child labour, summary executions, rape, enforced disappearances and looting.
None of which is helping you. Their dad’s loading shotguns and you’re no closer to an ethical ring. So what’s to be done? First, you could check Human Rights Watch’s ranking of retailers, grading them according to how much attention they pay to their sourcing and supply chains. Having settled on a retailer you could ask them what guarantees they can give you you’re not buying a conflict diamond. If nothing else it’ll show it remains a consumer concern. You could go for lab-grown diamonds that remove any doubt of conflict or environmental horror. Or you could go for Fairtrade jewellery or for rocks sourced from areas free from conflict: online stores sell diamond rings from Canada, Wales and other glamorous spots. That won’t bring money to the world’s poorest people who could do with the business, but it also won’t bring them harm through conflict. This is one of those cases of easy choice/few options/lousy solution so we’ll just take the best of what’s on offer. Worst case, if you don’t get it right the first time there’s always your second marriage as a do-over.
Best wishes.
Have an ethical engagement
Avoid conflict diamonds
Wipe out the industry
Photo credit: Insypre Tash Stock at DeviantArt
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