What is ethical jewellery and why does it matter?

Diamonds may be important, but ethics should be everything. While ethical jewellery is now a key concern for many stores and businesses, it is essential to make yourself aware of the risks involved when purchasing a product that has not been vetted to the highest standards.

So, what is ethical jewellery and why should you wear it above anything else?

How do diamonds make their way to us?

Diamond manufacture is fundamentally driven by mining, with each stone formed from carbon that has been shaped by the immense pressure of the earth’s depth. When it comes to extraction, miners dig deep below the surface to extract the stones – the first step of a gruelling six-stage process. This begins with initial exploration where prospectors search for kimberlite rocks that are then mined extensively. Once extracted, these are then sorted into a range of types, which are subsequently refined by cutting and polishing them into a desired shape. Once fully fit for purpose, the chosen stones are then added to hand-crafted jewellery and sold at retail.

The natural scarcity of diamonds and the exacting nature of this process makes the items incredibly desirable and valuable. And it is this ascribed value and healthy market that led for certain producers to cultivate stones by following highly unethical processes.

What had to change?

By its very nature, mining is a highly demanding process that can result in untold damage to people and the environment if not conducted correctly. Open pit mines still scar the landscape of Sierra Leone and even underground mining sends waste earth to the surface, contaminating water supplies and damaging nearby homes and animal life.

With many diamonds found in conflict or war zones, the term ‘Blood Diamonds’ is commonly used to describe stones mined from these areas. This can see warlords financing their activity by capturing mines and selling stones to the highest bidder through forced labour. Unsafe or unsupervised mining processes can result in family displacement, working slavery, child labour, death, and untold human misery.

Fortunately, steps were taken to counteract this in 2003 through the creation of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme, which has been hugely influential in curtailing the spread of conflict diamonds in the modern marketplace.

What is the Kimberley Process?

Agreed in the wake of a meeting of UN member states in Kimberley South Africa, the process was adopted by resolution A/RES/55/56 of the UN. As of 2019, 54 member states have signed up the process which involves a strict certification process for diamonds, letting the KP approval stamp confirm that any purchase has been rigorously vetted. This has led to companies like DeBeers building on this work through creating a blockchain directory for diamonds and other companies making a sustained effort to educate buyers about ethical purchasing.

While any reputable merchant will be able to track the genesis of a stone, when comes to your own purchasing practice, you should always confirm the following ethical information:

The Supply Chain: Understand how the diamond has been cultivated from the moment it was unearthed.

How Workers Are Treated: Check that workers are properly compensated and that no child labour is used in their production.

The Environmental Impact: The sustainable mining is used, or steps have been taken to limit the damage to the local environment and prevent issues like runoff.

How Local Communities’ Profit: A cornerstone of ethical production is seeing local communities’ benefit from the mining of diamonds. This can take the form of medical care, sustainable energy projects, or drives for education.

Potential Alternatives: Avoid the issue of ethics altogether by choosing alternative sourcing options. This can include recycled diamonds, older cuts that have been refashioned into more modern styles. Or you can consider man-made diamonds. These are fashioned from fragments of seed diamonds and formed from intense heat and commonly occurring gasses, letting buyers avoid the harmful mining process in its entirety.

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