'Breakfast at Tiffany's' or the ongoing reality show

Imagine the Wall Street... Or the Oxford Street... Or Tverskaya Street... Or any other central street in any big city that claims the status of a financial centre... or not even a big city... just any...where you can walk observing hundreds of shiny shop windows with thousands of jewellery goods behind them... mmmm, such a feeling, isn't it?

...well, guess it is... after watching the 'Blood Diamonds' movie by Edward Zwick I can share the feeling I've got - it is the feeling of hell with the taste of blood on the lips...

'Blood Diamonds' is a film about conflict diamonds that originate from areas (in the movie - Sierra Leone) controlled by forces or factions opposed to legitimate and internationally recognized governments, and are used to fund military action in opposition to those governments, or in contravention of the decisions of the Security Council. According to the UN, rough diamond caches have often been used by rebel forces to finance arms purchases and other illegal activities. Neighbouring and other countries can be (and have been) used as trading and transit grounds for illicit diamonds. Once diamonds are brought to market, their origin is difficult to trace and once polished, they can no longer be identified...

Only a few African economies have actually benefited from diamonds, while Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Liberia and Sierra Leone are still recovering from widespread devastation resulting from wars fuelled by diamonds. Diamonds are being smuggled out of the rebel-held north of Cote d'Ivoire and out of eastern DRC, and continue to be used for money laundering, tax evasion and organized crime (Global Witness and Amnesty International Survey 'Combating Conflict Diamonds').

In response, in May 2000, the major diamond trading and producing countries, representatives of the diamond industry, and NGOs met in Kimberley, South Africa to determine how to tackle the conflict diamond problem. The meeting, hosted by the South African government, was the start of an important and often contentious three-year negotiating process to establish the Kimberley Process, an international diamond certification scheme.

Though what's interesting, Global Witness in its report 'The Truth about Diamonds' states that 'it is extremely difficult to estimate the current percentage of conflict diamonds as smuggling can easily take place outside government controls, creating a trade in illicit diamonds. Illicit trade, thought to represent up to 20% of global trade, shows that there are serious loopholes in the
Kimberley Process'. Read more information on what governments and diamond industry are doing to stop illegal diamond trade and different case studies of African countries-participants here.

...Every girl gets goosebumps imagining the evening of engagement...how she will receive an engagement perfect ring from her beloved and they will start living their lives happily ever after...

...Well, before you do window shopping next time or run discussions with your boyfriend implying to a ring of your dream, don't forget to question yourself, and the seller, how the legal aspects of the offered stones are ensured...

Glass is the New Black! Indeed.