"Blood Diamonds"

Along with the concern for responsible gold mining, we witness global concern for what have been known as "blood diamonds." These are rough diamonds that have been illicitly mined and stolen in nations such as Sierra Leone to finance civil war. The international response is "The Kimberly Process." This is a tracking mechanism whereby rough diamonds are tracked from mining areas and certified as being free of illegal handling in the "diamond pipeline."
This protocol was initiated by the United States and participating countries as a result of United Nations intervention in the early years of this century. The result is that the trade in these diamonds has dropped from a high of 4% to approximately 1% of rough diamonds traded internationally.
I am looking forward to seeing a FICTIONAL treatment of "conflict diamonds" in the motion picture called "The Blood Diamond," with Leonard DiCaprio due out this December. I have read the synopsis of the screenplay (available on Wikipedia.org) and it sounds like an interesting film. There has been some trepidation amongst people in the legitimate diamond trade that the general public will get misinformation on how widespread the illicit trading is. The fact is: It is NOT widespread and NEVER was! It is understandable that people would be upset to know that their hard-earned money was used to finance bloodshed. I know that I don't want any part of it. The Kimberly Process is working and will continue to work well.