The Pros And Cons Of Conflict Diamonds

Conflict diamonds have played a major role in people's lives. Rape of women and girls have become a widespread problem in these African countries. Members of the war terrorized the civilian population and broke apart thousands of families. Additionally, these women who were kidnapped became forced to travel with the rebels throughout the war and many became sex slaves for the “sobels”,also known as rebels by day, soldiers by night. “In many cases the abducted were gang raped, beaten, starved, tortured, forced to walk long distances carrying heavy loads, and told they would be killed if they tried to escape” (Johnson 16). This would cause a high percentage of women and young girls to suffer from post traumatic stress disorder and extreme anxiety.

Over 140,000 carats of diamonds have been smuggled out of the Central African Republic as of 2014,and millions have died due to the fighting over these diamonds(Baker 3).Despite these facts, people still disagree that conflict diamonds are considered negligent or completely bad. In fact, some may think that conflict diamonds do more good than harm because it “helps” the diamond miners. These miners are working, getting pain, although it is a small amount of pay, and staying out of trouble. They are not being rebels killing innocent people and they are learning more about this carbon solid rock. People might also argue that despite the horrific incidents these diamond miners face daily, conflict diamonds are keeping the prices down. These saturated illegal obtained diamonds are considered cheaper compared to diamonds that are mined in higher economically countries such as Canada. The prices of conflict diamonds tend to be lower than the prices of regular diamonds causing more dealers wanting to buy them. This means that more people will be happy on days like their weddings, Valentine’s Day, anniversaries, ect, because more diamond are being imported. It seems as though blood diamonds aren't all that damaging as they may