Blood Diamonds on the British High Street, New Visualisation Launched to Raise Awareness

LONDON, April 11, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

Ingle and Rhode, London jewellers with a commitment to ethical diamond-sourcing, have launched a new infographic to communicate with consumers why a diamond certified through the Kimberley Process does not guarantee it is conflict-free.

The infographic draws attention to the fact that while the Kimberley agreement aims to guarantee the diamonds certified under the process do not help finance rebel armies, it does however allow the funding of oppressive governments which use diamond wealth to tyrannise their own people.

Tim Ingle from Ingle and Rhode explains, "The Kimberley Process only addresses diamonds produced in areas controlled by rebel militias. It doesn't take into consideration violence committed by government forces. 

"It is important that consumers are aware that the Kimberley Process does not guarantee that a diamond is conflict-free. In order to know whether a diamond has been ethically produced you need to be able to trace it back to its source." 

The graphic focuses on diamond production in Zimbabwe, the seventh largest producer of diamonds in the world.  The graphic details the human rights abuses in the area and the amount of money that is suspected of bypassing the national purse, going straight to the president's allies. Since this conflict does not involve warring rebel militias, the KPCS considers Zimbabwe diamonds to be conflict-free.

To build this graphic, Ingle & Rhode presented data about the increase in diamond production in Zimbabwe and looked at some of the political ramifications of the increase in state revenue. Almost 60 million US dollars worth of diamond revenue is suspected of bypassing the national treasury completely, going straight to president Robert Mugabe's personal and political allies.  It is feared much of the funds will contribute to the continued repression of free-speech, state sponsored violence and intimidation of political opponents of Mugabe's party, Zanu PF.

The infographic illustrating these key facts can be found here:

http://www.ingleandrhode.co.uk/ethical-diamonds-blog/blood-diamonds-on-the-high-street

Notes to Editors

For more information about diamond trading and the ethical ramifications of corruption in the mining industry, please look refer to the following websites.

http://blog.transparency.org/2012/02/20/eu-on-the-cusp-of-extractive-transparency-reforms/

http://www.globalwitness.org/library/don%E2%80%99t-let-mugabe-be-your-valentine/

For more information about Ingle & Rhode visit http://www.ingleandrhode.co.uk/