the storyline is focused on the civil war that raged Sierra Leone in the mid to late '90s; a desperate and voracious fight for the diamonds that were discovered there since the 1930s. the holocaust pales in comparison to this particular civil war, despite the former being publicised twice as much. in fact, the war in Sierra Leone lasted twice as long as WWII, and many more people suffered in the hands of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) during Foday Sankoh's regime. who would've thought, that such a thing we consider luxurious and extravagant, that those who have more of it are those we deem the rich upper class.. actually bring about violence, bloodshed, torture & war.

the movie is just another witness that we all needed to bring the issue of conflict diamonds to light. conflict diamonds: diamonds that are implicated in horrific human-rights abuses, including child labor, diamond-fueled violence & environmental destruction (read more..) sure, the Kimberley Process has been established in 2003 to end this issue, but how effective it actually is, is not yet widespread. the purpose of this organisation - created by Global Witness, NGOs, governments and the UN - was to decrease the number of conflict diamonds making its way into the legitimate diamond supply industry; participating countries selling their rough diamonds will have to claim that their export is not used to fund the rebels or any civil wars in the country, in exchange for firearms.

of course, on the issue of rebel militia & civil wars, also bring to light of the suffering of the civilians that are forcefully pulled into the picture. during the ten-year horrors of Sierra Leone, the RUF were notorious for their inhumane brutality; mass rapes and amputations of limbs, to name just a few. the purpose of the RUF is definite in the sense that they were rebeling against the Sierra Leone government with the slogan "No More Slaves, No More Masters. Power & Wealth To The People". yet it wasn't clear on which stand it took, whether nationalism, facism or communism. but during the ten-year struggle, the RUF demonstrated massive cruelty, such as extensive use of child soldiers and abduction of children for the army or prostitution, but they were more popular for severing the limbs of their victims whom they did not murder. a common reason they used for this act was that the people "had power in their hands" to vote, thus hacking off their hands would prevent such. more gruesome examples of their doing would include making bets on the sex of an unborn baby, and then slicing open a woman's womb to determine the winner.

finally in 2002, the war in Sierra Leone ended, along with wars in Angola and also the Republic of Congo.

but the issue of conflict diamonds speaking in the present is still a question mark. the export of conflict diamonds have been reduced massively, yet there are still ongoing leaks here and there of illegal diamond smuggling, which will eventually lead to well-developed countries for sale.

i'll give you a picture: imagine a rich man walking into a jewellery store to buy a diamond necklace for his daughter's 13th birthday. i mean turning 13 is pretty big; it's the journey into teenagehood. so hey, why not a special present right? so the man chooses a 13carat diamond (turning 13, so might as well) necklace, and pays for it, having it giftwrapped in a box with a pretty bow. he brings the box home, and gives it to his little girl. the daughter is ecstatic, and throws her arms around her father to thank him. wondering aloud, she asked "you must've spent alot on this, daddy", to which he replies "well, it's my hardearned money and you deserve it."

okay so on one side of the world we have a happy girl with some new bling, which she most apparently deserved. but on the other side of the globe, a 13 year old african boy is put to intensive hard labor, sieving through rivers to find rough diamonds, after not having to eat for maybe a few weeks and is frail & thin, yet not complaining for fear that he will be gunned down. and who will gun him down would also probably be another 13year old, forced into the rebel troop and trained to kill, to shed anyone else's blood but his, for rough diamonds. this same 13 yr old was probably also forced to kill his parents by his rebel troop, as a common act they tend to do.

so yes, the girl deserved her diamond for her thirteenth birthday. but the 13yr old slave did not deserve the labor he is put to, neither does the 13yr old soldier deserve to be brainwashed and to be intensely traumatised, by the deeds he has and will do. one man's meat is definitely another man's poison.

so the next time you buy a diamond, think ahead and back. of the possibilities, of the background. ask your jeweler a few questions to make sure that what you're buying isn't a conflict diamond. ask what is the company's policy on conflict diamonds. to make the Kimberley Process swift & effective is not only the job of the participants, but also ours; to prevent the continuation of blood diamonds.

okay, long post. research done, opinions given. not sure if most of you actually read it throughout, or didn't give a hoot. but do spread the word and raise more awareness to this issue. you could be helping the world more than you think.