Further delays lead to the possibility of more mutilations, amputations, and deaths.
The United Nations has imposed sanctions on diamonds from Sierra Leone, unless they are certified as conflict-free by the Sierra Leone government. The Israeli and Indian diamond bourses say they will bar any member who knowingly trades in conflict diamonds. And De Beers, the industry's leading mining and marketing company which had in February announced that it would not buy or sell conflict diamonds, has now declared in a new strategy that its clients will have to meet high ethical standards and maintain the conflict- free guarantee through the supply chain as part of its business reorganization. It is clear that some actors in this discussion have strong commercial interests in how the trade is structured and regulated, including the question of handling existing stockpiles of diamonds. However, for Amnesty International the priority issue must be urgent and effective action to break the link between diamonds and human rights abuses.