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What are Conflict Free Diamonds?

In case you aren’t aware, there are many diamonds available on the market which are known as “conflict diamonds” or “blood diamonds”. This means that these diamonds have been used by terror groups or fighting armies to fund their operations and their wars. In other words, countries which are naturally rich in diamonds might sell these “blood diamonds” to pay for arms and resources for bloody wars and battles which may or may not be legal. Unique engagement rings seem less special when they’ve acted as funding for violence!

The 2006 film “Blood Diamond” shed light on the phenomenon of blood diamonds, something that many consumers in the Western world were not privy to beforehand. This movie focused on warlords in Sierra Leone (a country rich in diamonds) funding a civil war with diamonds. Ever since this movie popularized the concept of conflict diamonds, couples getting married have been more focused on obtaining conflict free diamonds for one another.

Whether you’re buying a vintage engagement ring, Morganite engagement ring, or an “inspired by nature” engagement ring, you want to make sure that your diamond centerpiece is conflict-free and was not used to finance violence. It should go without saying that we here at Camellia Jewelry only use conflict free diamonds for all of our products, whether it’s a sunflower ring, a rose gold engagement ring, or a moissanite engagement ring… all of our products are clean and conflict free.

The Kimberley Process

The Kimberley Process was established in 2003, aiming to oversee the diamond extraction process from mine to retailer, making sure that the diamonds being sold to retailers and customers came from ethical sources and were not used for funding wars. Although the Kimberly Process was a good idea, it is nonetheless difficult to keep track of this information, and some companies distrust the process’s effectiveness.

You see, when diamonds are extracted, cut, and processed, they are handled by many different people and companies. For example, they will travel from the miner through to different wholesalers, a professional diamond cutter, more wholesalers, and then eventually to retail shops such as Camellia Jewelry, where we sell unique engagement rings to our customers. Along this diamond’s journey, each person/company must certify that the diamond has been handled appropriately according to the Kimberly Process.

We should point at that this process usually works and is reliable, although there have been stories of some unreliable tradespeople and diamond cutters sneaking blood diamonds into a batch of conflict free diamonds from time to time. Alas, this is hard to track without extensive infrastructure which is not available in many of the developing nations where diamonds are sourced from, meaning that a lot of this process is based on trust. Nonetheless, here at Camellia Jewelry, we have been working with our trading partners for a number of years now, and we are confident that the diamonds used in our unique engagement rings are conflict free. Our unique and vintage engagement rings include morganite engagement rings, sunflower rings, rose gold engagement rings, moissanite engagement rings, and even “inspired by nature” engagement rings which appeal to the flora and fauna lovers out there.

Does Camellia Jewelry sell conflict free diamonds?

Reputable dealers, which includes us here at Camellia Jewelry, sell diamonds which have been certified by the Kimberley Process as being conflict free. If you’d like to pry into the history of the source of our diamonds, you can always feel free to ask one of our dedicated members of staff, who will be happy to answer your questions about our vintage engagement rings, conflict free diamonds, unique engagement rings, and much more!

As well as avoiding the purchase of conflict free diamonds, those who are concerned about the welfare of remote mining communities can donate to charities such as DDI which encourage ethical mining practices in regions where diamond mining is a major aspect of the economy. Furthermore, some places offer lab-created diamonds (CVD) which can be 100% certified as conflict free in the sense that they’ve been created in a lab rather than mined out of a rock and sold on! We do sell these here at Camellia Jewelry as well. Our unique engagement rings and vintage engagement rings are available both with traditional diamonds and lab created diamonds for your choice.

The bottom line

Here at Camellia Jewelry, we are strictly opposed to the sale of blood diamonds, and we can confirm that all of our diamonds are conflict free diamonds which have been certified as so via the Kimberley Process. You can find dazzling conflict free diamonds sitting atop some of our most beautiful unique engagement rings, including our rose gold engagement rings, sunflower rings, art deco engagement rings, and even our “inspired by nature” engagement rings.

If you’re looking for unique and vintage engagement rings which have come from ethical non-violent sources, look no further than Camellia Jewelry!

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