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Conflict Diamonds
Blood diamonds (also called conflict diamonds, brown diamonds, hot diamonds, or red diamonds) are diamonds mined in a war zone and sold to finance an insurgency, an invading army's war efforts, terrorism, or a warlord's activity. The term is used to highlight the negative consequences of the diamond trade in certain areas, or to label an individual diamond as having come from such an area. Diamonds mined during the 20th–21st century civil wars in Angola, Ivory Coast, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Guinea, and Guinea-Bissau have been given the label. The terms conflict resource or conflict minerals refers to analogous situations involving other natural resources. Blood diamonds can also be smuggled by organized crime syndicates so that they could be sold on the black market. According to the Kimberley Process, global trade in rough diamonds in 2023 totaled approximately 112 million carats. Financing conflict Philippe Le Billon describes the conflict resources argument resting on th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hands Ondiamonds 350
A hand is a prehensile, multi-fingered appendage located at the end of the forearm or forelimb of primates such as humans, chimpanzees, monkeys, and lemurs. A few other vertebrates such as the Koala#Characteristics, koala (which has two thumb#Opposition and apposition, opposable thumbs on each "hand" and fingerprints extremely similar to human fingerprints) are often described as having "hands" instead of paws on their front limbs. The raccoon is usually described as having "hands" though opposable thumbs are lacking. Some evolutionary anatomists use the term ''hand'' to refer to the appendage of digits on the forelimb more generally—for example, in the context of whether the three Digit (anatomy), digits of the bird hand involved the same Homology (biology), homologous loss of two digits as in the dinosaur hand. The human hand usually has five digits: Finger numbering#Four-finger system, four fingers plus one thumb; however, these are often referred to collectively as Finger ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Philippe Le Billon
Philippe Le Billon is a researcher known for his work in political ecology and on the political economy of war. Fulbright Research Chair at UC BerkeleyanScholar at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton Le Billon is a professor at the University of British Columbia (UBC) with the Department of Geography and the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs. He earned an MBA at the Pantheon-Sorbonne University in Paris and a doctorate at the University of Oxford. Prior to joining UBC he collaborated with the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) and the Overseas Development Institute (ODI). Contributions Working on the environment-development-security nexus, he is the (co)author of about one hundred refereed articles and several books, including on conflict diamonds, corruption in armed conflicts, environmental defenders, extractive industries, fish crimes, fossil fuel phase-out initiatives (e.gfossil fuel cuts databasewith Nicolas Gaulin), and the polit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
UN Security Council
The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN) and is charged with ensuring international peace and security, recommending the admission of new UN members to the General Assembly, and approving any changes to the UN Charter. Its powers as outlined in the United Nations Charter include establishing peacekeeping operations, enacting international sanctions, and authorizing military action. The UNSC is the only UN body with authority to issue resolutions that are binding on member states. Like the UN as a whole, the Security Council was created after World War II to address the failings of the League of Nations in maintaining world peace. It held its first session on 17 January 1946 but was largely paralysed in the following decades by the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union (and their allies). Nevertheless, it authorized military interventions in the Korean War and the Congo Crisis and peacekeepi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Coup D'état
A coup d'état (; ; ), or simply a coup , is typically an illegal and overt attempt by a military organization or other government elites to unseat an incumbent leadership. A self-coup is said to take place when a leader, having come to power through legal means, tries to stay in power through illegal means. By one estimate, there were 457 coup attempts from 1950 to 2010, half of which were successful. Most coup attempts occurred in the mid-1960s, but there were also large numbers of coup attempts in the mid-1970s and the early 1990s. Coups occurring in the post-Cold War period have been more likely to result in democratic systems than Cold War coups, though coups still mostly perpetuate authoritarianism. Many factors may lead to the occurrence of a coup, as well as determine the success or failure of a coup. Once a coup is underway, coup success is driven by coup-makers' ability to get others to believe that the coup attempt will be successful. The number of successful cou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
United Nations Security Council Resolution 1295
United Nations Security Council resolution 1295, adopted unanimously on 18 April 2000, after reaffirming Resolution 864 (1993) and all subsequent resolutions on Angola, particularly resolutions 1127 (1997), 1173 (1998) and 1237 (1999), the Council authorised a tightening of sanctions against UNITA and established a panel of experts to investigation violations of Security Council resolutions imposing measures against UNITA. Resolution 1295 was adopted in the aftermath of the Fowler Report, which detailed how countries worldwide were violating sanctions against UNITA. Resolution Observations The Security Council expressed its alarm at the continuing civil war in Angola and its impact on the civilian population. It reiterated that the primary cause of the crisis in Angola was the failure of UNITA, under the leadership of Jonas Savimbi, to comply with obligations under the , Lusaka Protocol and relevant Security Council resolutions. In this regard, it demanded that UNITA imme ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fowler Report
The Fowler Report, released on March 14, 2000, is a United Nations report detailing how various companies, African and European governments, including that of Angola and the political wing of UNITA, violated the Lusaka Protocol as well as UN-imposed sanctions. Robert Fowler, Canada's ambassador to the United Nations, headed the commission that compiled the report, which raised widespread international concern by highlighting the strong link between the illicit diamond trade and third world conflicts. UN sanctions Following the resumption of the Angolan civil war by UNITA, the United Nations Security Council passed Resolution 1173 and Resolution 1176 in 1998, which sought to bring an end to the conflict by imposing sanctions against the UNITA movement, specifically targeting its ability to finance the war through the sale of blood diamonds. Sanctions-breaking diamond trade Despite the sanctions imposed against UNITA, the organisation was able to continue financing the confli ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert Fowler (diplomat)
Robert R. Fowler (born 18 August 1944) is a Canadian diplomat and was the special envoy of UN Secretary-General of the United Nations, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to Niger from mid-2008 to 2009, to find a solution to the Tuareg rebellion (2007–2009), conflict in Agadez region. On 14 December 2008, he was reported missing and was last seen about northwest of the capital Niamey. Fowler was, along with several Westerners, eventually freed on 21 April 2009. Career Born in Ottawa, Fowler attended Selwyn House School in Montreal and Bishop's College School in Sherbrooke. He began his post-secondary education at McGill University where he was a member of The Kappa Alpha Society, before transferring and eventually earning a B.A. from Queen's University at Kingston, Queen's University in 1968. He taught English at the National University of Rwanda and served as an Administrative Trainee in the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). In 1969, he began his diplomatic car ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
UNITA
The National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (, abbr. UNITA) is the second-largest political party in Angola. Founded in 1966, UNITA fought alongside the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) and the National Liberation Front of Angola (FNLA) in the Angolan War of Independence, Angolan War for Independence (1961–1975) and then against the MPLA in the ensuing Angolan Civil War, civil war (1975–2002). The war was one of the most prominent Cold War proxy wars, with UNITA receiving military aid initially from the China, People's Republic of China from 1966 until October 1975 and later from the United States and History of South Africa#Apartheid era (1948–1994), apartheid South Africa while the MPLA received material and technical support from the Soviet Union and its allies, especially Cuba. Until 1996, UNITA was Blood diamond#Angola, funded through Angolan diamond mines in both Lunda Norte Province, Lunda Norte and Lunda Sul Province, Lunda Sul alo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
World Diamond Council
The World Diamond Council is an organization representing the entire diamond value chain including representatives from diamond mining, manufacturing, trading and retail. The council was established in July 2000. The purpose was to create a system to keep the supply chain of diamonds as free as possible from conflict diamonds. In December 2000, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a landmark resolution supporting the creation of an international certification scheme for rough diamonds. By November 2002, negotiations between governments, the international diamond industry and civil society organisations resulted in the creation of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS). The KPCS document sets out the requirements for controlling rough diamond production and trade. The KPCS entered into force in 2003, when participating countries started to implement its rules. The KPCS is credited as being instrumental toward dramatically reducing “conflict diamonds” to less th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Partnership Africa Canada
IMPACT, formerly known as Partnership Africa Canada (PAC) until October 2017, is a non-governmental organization which attempts to control the sourcing of minerals in regions of conflict and campaign against "blood diamonds". Zimbabwe IMPACT claimed that around $2bn (£1.26bn) worth of diamonds was stolen by Zimbabwe's rulers, such as the military, police, and "ruling elite", saying that "The scale of illegality is mind-blowing". IMPACT also claimed that Robert Mugabe gained $2 billion from looting in the Marange diamond fields in 2012. IMPACT went on to say that "This shows Zimbabwe was wilfully in breach of the ... ban on Marange diamonds", following the leaking of a document from the Mineral Marketing Corporation, which detailed the proposed sale of $200 million worth of illegal diamonds through several Zimbabwe banks. This led to criticism from IMPACT, and the Human Rights Watch. Diamond sale Alan Martin went on to criticise major European banks, such as Barclays, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
United Nations Security Council
The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN) and is charged with ensuring international peace and security, recommending the admission of new UN members to the General Assembly, and approving any changes to the UN Charter. Its powers as outlined in the United Nations Charter include establishing peacekeeping operations, enacting international sanctions, and authorizing military action. The UNSC is the only UN body with authority to issue resolutions that are binding on member states. Like the UN as a whole, the Security Council was created after World War II to address the failings of the League of Nations in maintaining world peace. It held its first session on 17 January 1946 but was largely paralysed in the following decades by the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union (and their allies). Nevertheless, it authorized military interventions in the Korean War and the Congo Crisis and peaceke ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alluvial Diamond Mining
There are a limited number of commercially available diamond mines currently operating in the world, with the 50 largest mines accounting for approximately 90% of global supply. Diamonds are also mined alluvially over disperse areas, where diamonds have been eroded out of the ground, deposited, and concentrated by water or weather action. There is also at least one example of a heritage diamond mine (Crater of Diamonds State Park). Africa Angola * Catoca diamond mine * Fucauma diamond mine * Luarica diamond mine Botswana *Damtshaa diamond mine *Jwaneng diamond mine *Letlhakane diamond mine *Orapa diamond mine * Karowe diamond mine * Lerala diamond mine South Africa * Baken diamond mine * Cullinan diamond mine (previously "Premier mine") * Finsch diamond mine *Kimberley, Northern Cape *Koffiefontein mine *Venetia diamond mine * Royal Thulare Mine Others *Kao diamond mine, Lesotho * Baba Diamond Fields, Zimbabwe * Marange diamond fields, Zimbabwe * Murowa diamond mine, Zi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
