Sierra Leone: Diamond Mines
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By: Celeste Pollans
In almost every region of Sierra Leone Africa there are diamond mines. Most of the diamond mines illegally export their product which brings them enormous annual incomes. The amount of illegally exported diamonds goes down every year and the amount of legally exported diamonds increases noticeably every year. The problem is getting better because the UN and Sierra Leone’s government have stepped in as well and proof of that is the decrease in illegal exports. Although illegal exporting of diamonds is still a major problem, the issue of diamond mines overall has drastically improved because of the work done by the United Nations and the Sierra Leonoean government.
During the past six years the United Nations and Sierra Leone’s government has stepped in and made several beneficial plans to improve the diamond mining issue. One of the first movements towards a brighter Sierra Leonean future was in 1999. During the year of 1999 the United Nations set out on a mission in Sierra Leone to enforce legal exporting. To do this, the UN created the UNAMSIL, United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone. The UNAMSIL was at the time, the biggest peacekeeping force ever to be sent out by the United Nations (Conflict Diamonds). During the year of 2000, a plan was set forth that the United Nations approved called for all exported goods to be certified by the government. After this plan was put into action, the amount of legal exports sky rocketed (Background Notes: Sierra Leone). Like several of the plans that the UN and Sierra Leonean government set forth, it was highly beneficial to the diminishing of illegal exports (Background Notes: Sierra Leone). Just one year later, the government of Sierra Leone created the Mining Community Development Fund. This program gave a portion of the taxes from the legal exports to the diamond mining communities. By taking money from the legal export taxes and returning it to the mining communities, it helped the villages dig there way out of poverty (Background Notes: Sierra Leone). If a village does not have to live in poverty then the people will not have to resort the harsh circumstances of being a diamond miner. All three of those plans that were put into action by the United Nations and the Sierra Leonean government were very beneficial towards stopping the problem of illegal diamond mining.
All of the plans previously spoken of as well as several more have been a major help in decreasing the amounts of illegal exported diamonds. Since 2001 there has been a drastic increase in the annual income from legal exporting of diamonds. In 2001 the annual worth of legal, exported diamonds was 24 million dollars. Just four short years later in 2005 the annual worth shot up to 141 million dollars. In just four year in 2005 the worth of the legally exported diamonds was almost six times what it was in 2001 (Diamonds Move From Blood to Sweat and Tears). This great improvement was most likely due to the plans set forth by the Sierra Leonean government and the United Nations. In 2005 the total income of all illegally and legally exported diamonds was somewhere between 250 to 300 million dollars. If the legal income that year was 142 million dollars then the income of legally exported diamonds is almost half of the total income. Although illegal exportation still dominates the trade markets, legal exportation of diamonds does not have a far way to come before it almost wipes out illegal exportation (Background Notes: Sierra Leone). During the year of 2001, the Kimberly process was set forth. This was yet another plan to have all dealing of diamonds looked over and certified by authorities. Before the Kimberly Process, there had been other plans put into action for the same cause. The previous plans had worked well but illegal transportation such as smuggling was still occurring at high rates. Just like the last plan, the Kimberly Process helped decrease smuggling at high rates. The Kimberly Process had a major impact because before it was passed, smuggling was outlawed, but the penalties of doing so were not as threatening. Now not only did this plan reiterate laws made in previous plans, but it set higher penalties for those caught smuggling (Diamonds Move From Blood to Sweat and Tears). All of these statistics help prove the point that every one of the plans and movements that the Sierra Leonean government and United Nations started were had a major benefit and are helping to increase the rates of legal exportation.
As one can see, the problem that illegal diamond mining is causing for Sierra Leone has improved because of the United Nations and Sierra Leonean government stepped in to help. Currently, the diamond mines poorly impact the country of Sierra Leone but the statistics show that the country has come a long way and still continues to improve the situation. The people still suffer and the country has a long way to go to fully recover from the impact that the diamond mines have had on it but they have also come so far and continue to improve every year.
Annotated Bibliography
"Background Notes: Sierra Leone." U.S. Department of State. Oct. 2008. 14 May 2009
<http://www.state.gov /outofdate/bgn/s/105732.htm>.
This source was very useful, I obtained a lot of my information on government plans that were beneficial to the mining problem at this source.
"Conflict Diamonds." United Nations. 21 Mar. 2001. 14 May 2009
<http://www.un.org/peace/africa/Diamond.html>.
I used this source the least out of all three but it provided me with useful information on the UNAMSIL.
Polgreen, Lydia. "Diamonds Move from Blood to Sweat and Tears." The New York Times 25 Mar. 2007. Academic OneFile. Gale. New Trier High School Library, Winnetka,IL. 14 May2009
<http://infotrac.galegroup.com/itweb/ ?db=AONE>.
This source is where I got almost all of my statistics from. It had very helpful information that I used to prove my claim.
Last Updated by Celeste Pollans 5/22/09
class home page:http://org.newtrier.k12.il.us/academics/faculty/hjelmgren/africa09proj3lev.html
