It’s only been brought to the attention of the public recently that diamond mining is a very dangerous and exploitative business to be in. Giving precious jewellery has been a ritual for expressing your love and devotion to an other for hundreds of years. However your best intentioned gift may have a grotesque history that if you knew about it, you might just think again about wearing it.

Blood diamonds or conflict diamonds, as they’re also known, are diamonds that have been implicated in horrific human rights violations including diamond fuelled violence, child labour and environmental destruction.

An estimated 3.7 million people have died in Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Liberia and Sierra Leone in conflicts fuelled by diamonds.

Amnesty International and Global Witness claim consumers have the power to effect industry-wide change by demanding that their diamonds are clean. They recommend that you ask the retailer the following questions before buying:

• Do you know where your diamonds come from?
• Can I see a copy of your company’s policy on conflict diamonds?
• How can I be sure that all of your jewellery if conflict-free?

Even if your diamonds are guaranteed as conflict-free, many in the industry says that because the industry is so dangerous anyway and working conditions often criminal, that all diamonds are blood diamonds. Diamond mining is very destructive to the environment, mining for precious stones and metal destroys thousands of acres and creates huge amounts of waste.