In the diamond-mining industry, a blood diamond (converted diamond, conflict diamond, hot diamond or war diamond) refers to a diamond mined in a war zone, usually in Africa, and sold to finance an insurgency, invading army’s war efforts, or a warlord’s activity.
However, the concept of a blood diamond was not popularized until the 2006 Leonardo DiCaprio movie, 'Blood Diamond'. The movie's vivid images and touching storyline hit the mined diamond industry hard - all of a sudden consumers wanted to know how much blood someone may have shed for their engagement ring. This resulted in diamond lobbyists needing to clear their name, and start cracking down on the blood diamond market.
But how far have these lobbyists and PR firms come?
In 2004, Amnesty International and Global Witness conducted a survey of diamond jewelers to see if they were living up to their promises to stop the trade in conflict diamonds. It was discovered that while some efforts have been made, many retailers were not doing enough: Only 18% of stores surveyed could provide a copy of their conflict diamond policy and 22% said they had no policy at all.
This is why Renaissance Diamonds exclusively offers lab-created diamonds. You can be sure that our diamonds were not mined in conflict areas - because our diamonds were never mined!
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