Now the industry finds itself on the defensive. Carat, color, clarity and cut, the traditional four C's of judging a diamond, have been joined by a fifth C, conflict. The Campaign to Eliminate Conflict Diamonds, a coalition of human rights groups, is attempting to rouse grassroots outrage over diamonds from war zones. In Sierra Leone, especially, the diamond trade has fueled extreme brutality from rebels whose signature act of terror against civilians is hacking off limbs. Easily absorbed into the global diamond market, the stones traded by these groups are physically indistinguishable from legitimate diamonds and have found their way into jewelry stores the world over, including in the United States.
All sides agree conflict diamonds are an insidious pollutant in the legitimate diamond pipeline.
At stake, said De Beers, is not only the continued health of the diamond industry, but the economies of such nations as South Africa, Botswana and Namibia, which depend on the legitimate diamond trade, not to mention a host of other mining players such as Australia, Brazil, Canada and Russia. While diamond councils, the United Nations and lawmakers around the world attempt to stop the conflict stones from reaching the market, De Beers and others already have begun issuing guarantees that the stones they trade are conflict-free. In the insular world of diamonds, such guarantees are enough for some. In New York's gaudy Diamond District, William J. Goldberg, patriarch of a diamond firm that bears his name and specializes in very expensive, large-weight stones, describes it as an industry of honor. Man to man, company to company, where a word is honored.