Russell Simmons Explains His Stance on Blood Diamonds, DeBeers and African Development - Page 2

Not withstanding our documenting the current level of support that the diamond industry contributes to Africa, we wanted to build on the foundation that had been laid to engage the international diamond jewelry industry in greater support for Africa, particularly around access to education. The mining that occurs in Africa is just one component of the international diamond and jewelry sector. We wanted to sensitize the entire industry to the needs of the people in the communities in which many of their materials are extracted with the intention that they would get involved to help the cause. Simply stated, the Diamond Empowerment Fund exists to raise awareness and support for greater empowerment through education for indigenous people in diamond producing nations, especially the youth.

On his relationship with DeBeers, the largest diamond company in the world…

My relationship with DeBeers is not business. Simmons Jewelry Company is not a diamond company, it is a jewelry company. When I got into the jewelry business, I wanted to find a way to be helpful and bring a cause element to Simmons Jewelry Co. Africa was a natural fit given the tremendous need for greater support for Africa and the fact that many of the materials used in jewelry, including diamonds, are extracted from Africa. As a result of being in the business, we met the people from DeBeers and established a relationship through the founding of the Diamond Empowerment Fund that is purely philanthropic.

DeBeers’ support of the establishment of the Diamond Empowerment Fund did not happen as a result of our position on the Blood Diamond movie. In fact, we did not issue criticism of the Blood Diamond movie as a result of financial support from DeBeers. The establishment of the Simmons Jewelry Co predated the Blood Diamond movie. Our relationship with DeBeers came as a direct result of the Simmons Jewelry Co being in the industry. Simmons Jewelry Co. is a small company and through our company we have given at least 10 times as much as I have earned to support access to education in Africa.

Prior to the film’s release, there was a lot of misinformation we were receiving in our research on the issues from many sources. We challenged DeBeers to show us their operations in South Africa and Botswana firsthand and they readily accepted. The awful tragedy that happened in Sierra Leone that was depicted in the Blood Diamond movie was not the reality in South Africa or Botswana, which incidentally is the largest diamond-producing nation in the world.

There needs to be a distinction made between alluvial diamond mining and formal diamond mining. Formal diamond mining, prevalent in Southern Africa is able to be ring-fenced with proper procedures and safety measures put in place. Alluvial diamond mining (diamonds found in river beds, ocean floors, shore lines, etc) is prevalent in Western Africa and is impossible to ring-fence given that most alluvial diamond deposits are spread across huge geographic areas which cannot be easily isolated or monitored.  These deposits tend to be mined by individuals, families or groups – commonly referred to as diggers. There are a number of issues concerning the working conditions of this type of mining including the unhealthy, unregulated and sometimes dangerous environments in which the diggers work, together with the fact that the majority of diggers do not know the true value of rough diamonds and are therefore vulnerable to exploitation. This type of mining was exploited and as a result there was social and economic unrest Sierra Leone, which then financed the country’s brutal war in the late 1990’s – and is also, of course, the backdrop for the Blood Diamond movie.