War on Dimonds
When you think of diamonds, what words come up in your mind? Do you think about how lavish they are? Or how beautiful they can be? Do you ever stop and think about how we get dimonds and how are they being extracted and from where? Well unfortntley they are being extracted in a violent, and inhumane way from Africa, which is where diomonds orignate from. "In just the past two decades, seven African countries have endured brutal civil conflicts fueled by diamonds: Sierra Leone, Liberia, Angola, the Republic of Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, the Central African Republic, and the Democratic Republic of Congo"(http://www.brilliantearth.com/conflict-diamond-trade/) These diomonds that Americans love to wear have caused alot of chaos in many countries within Africa.
Due to the diomonds mines that are in Africa, many rival groups are fighting eachother to control diomond rich territory. This only leads to bloodshed, human rights abuse, such as rape and even child soliders participating and last of all death. Dimonds are one of the mian reasons why wars seem to occur in many countries within Africa. Quite often these diomonds cause fuel wars that are seen as being blood or conflict diamonds."...Although many diamond-fueled wars have now ended, conflict diamonds remain a serious problem. In 2013, a civil war erupted in the Central African Republic, with both sides fighting over the country’s diamond resources. Thousands of people have died and more than a million have been displaced. In addition, past wars fueled by diamonds have taken about 3.7 million lives. Millions of people are still dealing with the consequences of these wars: friends and family members lost, lives shattered, and physical and emotional scars that will last generations"(http://www.brilliantearth.com/conflict-diamond-trade/).
It's unfornunate that many lives are lost due to the war on diamonds. Alot of violence takes place when dimond mining and also inhumane settings take place.Yes I understand how many parts in Africa suffer from poverty and much more and this may be the reason as to why, when people find diamond mines they seem to fight for the land. Or if someone already owns it and the other person may want it, and the owener doesn't want to give it up, they simply declare war on eachother. Also thousands of men, women and even children in Sierra Leone are used as slaves in order to extract dimonds. They even have to use their bare hands to dig into mud or gravel along river banks which is horrible."(Armstrong, CNN)
Their should be a end to this violence, and their is some justice already being done in Africa. I pray that things get better for those who are still suffering, and that this war is put to and end for good and that wars don't keep coming back as they have in the past. This subject really stood out to me becuase I can't believe how much this world is going through. It's one thing for us Americans to think we have it bad within our daily lives as problems arise within our lives from time to time but when thinking of other countries and finding out how much trouble they are going through, I can't help but wonder what is being done to help them, and can only imagine how much suffering they are going through.
Until next time,
Lupe Gutierrez
Video about War on Dimonds link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnUMFsBSCMA
Articles on the war on dimonds links: http://www.brilliantearth.com/conflict-diamond-trade/ and http://www.cnn.com/2012/04/26/world/africa/blood-diamonds/
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