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Canadian Diamonds: Fair-Trade diamonds or Conflict-Free diamonds?

by: Maria de Costa
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Canadian Diamonds: Fair-Trade diamonds or Conflict-Free diamonds?

Can one find Fair-Trade products at reasonable price? Are Conflict-Free diamonds really conflict free? To qualify as Fair-Trade products, various certifying bodies are struggling to produce the best standards and the certified products must comply with several conditions. The most important of them are to ensure fair working environment and benefiting the local community, where the product is harvested. Igloo diamonds seem to be the world's first pro-actively ethical diamonds. You cannot get any closer to the spirit of the fair-trade movement in the diamond world than Igloo Diamonds.

Can one find Fair-Trade products at reasonable price? And, are Conflict-Free diamonds really conflict free?

To qualify as a Fair-Trade product, the certifying bodies are struggling to give the best standard. Moreover, the item in question must comply with several conditions. The requirements that make it compliant to the conditions are:

1. The product is harvested, produced, and/or processed by labor that is not abused in terms of pay and/or working conditions, and,

2. The community implicated in those stages of the production benefits from the acquisition of the product through a premium on its retail that pays for an improvement in the community's welfare.

If only the first condition need be satisfied, all Canadian diamonds would have qualified for certification due to the labor conditions in Canada that are progressive and concern to all workers regardless of the producing community, geographical location or otherwise.

Once the focus shifts to the second condition, there is no premium directed by retailers towards benefiting those implicated in the mining and processing of diamonds in Canada.

Still, are any of the so called Canadian Diamond brands close in spirit to the Fair-Trade certification concept?

A company that is considered an outstanding in this trade is “Igloo Diamonds”®, which allocates a hefty donation from the actual markup of the sale of each and every diamond to the clearing of a plot within a minefield in Mozambique in Africa. It provides the actual donation per sale rather than as others that might allocate "5% of the profit" to a cause (that might be equivalent to nothing through original accounting). Igloo acts through the UN affiliate of "Adopt-a-Minefield", clearing plots in minefields in Mozambique. The diamond and its buyer are also granted a certificate and a map, indicating the plot's size and location. All the diamonds are Canadian diamonds, with Igloo’s certificate of Canadian origin.

The official Fair-Trade certification program requires that the community at the source should get benefits from a premium allocated from its final sale. Igloo Diamonds source non-conflict Canadian diamonds and benefit, rather, a community in Africa, a region of the world mostly affected by abusive diamond sourcing. Thus, two communities are positively affected by Igloo Diamonds activity: the mining and extracting community employed in the mining and processing operations in Canada, as well as a community in Mozambique, where landmines are being cleared, a land is being rehabilitated, made useful, workable, accessible and passable again. Igloo self-defines itself as a new "not for profit only" brand.

Igloo Diamonds is the world's first pro-actively ethical diamond retailer. You cannot get any closer to the spirit of the Fair-Trade movement in the diamond world than Igloo Diamonds.

The above said, it becomes clear also that Fair-Trade might not be that fair to a trader. Initiatives such as Igloo, although exemplifying the spirit of the Fair-Trade movement still do not qualify to be certified as such.

As for "Conflict-Free Diamonds”, this label does not coincide in its denotation with "Fair-Trade Diamonds”. The requirement of a Conflict-Free Diamond is to merely originate in a traceable manner in a part of the world where it sponsors no military cruelty, etc.

Igloo Diamonds purchases their Canadian diamonds only from suppliers who are subscribers to the Canadian diamonds Code of Ethics where the source and traceability of these ethical diamonds are guaranteed. Canadian diamonds (the likes of those used by Igloo Diamonds) are clearly Conflict-Free diamonds.

One thing cannot be denied: the example of Igloo Diamonds symbolizing the closest one gets an authentic Fair-Trade product in the world of diamonds, and undisputedly, these diamonds do good in Africa through a UN affiliated reputable international organization.

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About the Author

Maria da Costa, is an innovative diamond jewelry designer and dealer since 1998. She is a trained, certified and experienced interior designer and a graduate of Belgium`s famed HRD diamond grading training. With an active involvement in the local art scene and as an accomplished creator in several fields of the visual arts, Maria proceeded to create some of the most daring and stunning tension ring designs in the newly adopted media; such as Titanium and Zirconium. Maria is presently the House Guest Designer at Absolute Titanium Design and design Consultant at Igloo Diamonds  

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