Case of Child Labor De Beers in Africa – Dark Truth of Solitaires
‘Diamonds are forever’ – a catchy tagline by De Beers Diamonds to market diamonds and tempt people to buy them. Diamonds have been projected as a symbol of love, romance, wealth and dedication over decades. A diamond ring is supposed to be a perfect gift for a man to express his love for a woman and it is said that bigger the diamond, the more a man loves the woman. Just a glimpse of a diamond solitaire is enough to bring glimmer and spark in the eyes of a person and buying it becomes an expression of the class, style and extravagance. But behind the attractive glitter of diamonds lies a shadowy, dark truth which people are unaware of or even fail to notice.
Behind the beauty of the diamond lies the blood covered stories of innocent children and what they went through to mine and make the diamond as beautiful as it appears. It is a common practice of enslaving children as young as six years to work in diamond mines across the globe. Diamond mines are unsafe and not many people know the fact that how many innocent children die in the diamond mine each day losing their precious life in retrieving ‘precious stones’. Are diamonds really as ‘precious’ and ‘worthy’ as the life of an innocent child?
De Beers is the world’s leading rough diamond company established in 1888. They have mining operations in South Africa, Namibia, Botswana and Canada. But De Beers rose to fame for its cruel working conditions and employment of child labor. Before the end of 19th century, South Africa witnessed a heavy diamond rush. De Beers also wanted to cash in this opportunity and hence it needed a large workforce. De Beers exploited workers which mostly included black teenaged Africans, De Beers was selling overpriced diamonds yet was the king as it was holding monopoly over sales. These child workers were forced to live in the mines and their wages were exchanged for the accommodation. The working conditions were poor and the workers were heavily exploited. The child slaves working in mines also faced unhealthy working conditions. It is reported that miners working in diamond mines are exposed to diseases like dysentery and malaria. In addition to these problems, child miners are subject to malnutrition, respiratory problems, headaches and strain on the eyes.
De Beers has also been accused of relocating the Bushman Tribe in Africa from their land to explore diamonds in that area. It is ‘genocide’ of that tribe as it has been living on that land over the generations. The tribe members were tortured in numerous ways to make them leave that land.
In 1990s, an NGO named Global Witness started a campaign to expose Beer’s purchase of illegal rough diamonds. A Fatal Transactions Campaign in 1999 also included a World Vision campaign under the slogan ‘Dying for a Diamond? So are thousands of innocent children’. De Beers responded to the upheaval created by issuing commercial guarantees that it would not purchase or sell diamonds from illegal sources.
This issue led to the formation of Kimberly Process which is a unique international cooperative arrangement between governments, retail jewelers, NGOs and diamond industry. As De Beers has been a major player in the diamond mining industry, it has also played a significant role in the formation of this arrangement. Under this arrangement, De Beers has pledged that every diamond it sells will be conflict free and child labor free. Later, De Beers also came up with a ‘Supplier of choice’ campaign to align its interests with the sight holders – the retailers and middleman and earn the trust of the customers. One of the components of this campaign is sight holders will comply with Best Practice Standards inclusive of no child labor.
The South African government believes that boycotting De Beers is not a solution as it will increase the destruction and poverty in countries where legal mining operations are being carried out. Whether this statement is just glittering like a diamond or is a real diamond will be evident only in the times to come.
