Ethics - ANC 1

Sheran Dunlas

BLOOD DIAMOND
1. What are the Ethical issues in the movie Blood Diamond?
There are many ethical issues involved in the movie; among them, the following four
are the ones that have been highlighted the most.
Conflict Diamond (Blood Diamond):
The title of the movie itself illustrates the first ethical issue; blood diamond or in other
words, conflict diamonds which are rough and uncut stones used by rebel and
terrorists to finance their act of terrorism and war. The movie is based on this
scenario where diamonds are smuggled from Africa and illegally sold to high-end
businessmen of other countries in order to fund the war in Africa. This act leads to so
many unethical and illegal behaviours.
Child soldier & Child Labour:
This is a very serious issue, where many children are kidnapped by the rebels
(example; R.U.F.) and made into soldiers and labours. In order to make them soldiers
who obey them, the adult rebels manipulate them by poisoning their minds with
praise, drugging them and torturing them. Whereas child labours are made through
implying fear on their minds. For example, the chief of the rebel cuts off the hands of
a kid in order make them fear him. Such acts are inhuman and barbaric.
Slavery and torture:
As you can see in the movie, in order to mine the diamonds out, the rebels use slaves.
They raid villages and capture men, women and children to work as their slaves. More
over those innocent people are treated like disposable objects. They kill whoever tries
to act on his/her free will, making them unable to run or defend themselves.
Corrupted Government Superiors:
The movie also highlights the ethical issue of corrupted officers who use their power
for money. The character Colonel Coetzee is shown to be a superior military officer
who himself is associated in trading illegal diamond misusing his power. Also his
ruthless behaviour shows that he is willing to use all his power in any means to get
profit.

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Sheran Dunlas

2. When Maddy Bowen accuses Danny Archer of helping to prolong the conflict
in Sierra Leone by his smuggling activities, Archer says that the American
appetite for inexpensive diamond jewellery is just as much to blame. How
should responsibility be allocated? Explain
What Danny Archer trying to say is that, the reason why he is involved in such
activity is because many consumers prefer to buy the diamonds at cheaper price and in
order to meet the consumer requests, without suffering any loss and making high
profit. Importing diamonds in ethical and legal manner will increase the cost whereas
it will increase the price of the end product. Hence the retailers involve in unethical
practises to bring in diamonds. Such practises involves in hiring smugglers to smuggle
diamonds at a cheaper price.
The below diagram is a short brief about the process of this scenario;
Consumers
consumers have a high preference for diamonds but they
want them at cheaper price.

Retailers or Suppliers

to meet the consumer request or demand without losing

them and also to make profit, they involve in unethical
practise like hiring smugglers to smuglge diamonds at lower
cost than importing them.
Smugglers
these smugglers who have contact with certain unethical
dealers (rebels and terrorists) will purchase diamonds from
them at a cheaper price and smugle them out of the country.

Rebels or Terrorists
in order to gain money to fund their acts, they enslave men
and women to mine diamonds out without incurring costs.
Where this acts leads to many unethical behaviors.

But the ultimate responsibility must be the suppliers for they are the ones who follow
these practises. It is the nature of all consumers to request quality products at cheaper
price. If the suppliers could follow ethical codes and stop them from involving in such
acts will avoid many ethical issues.

Ethics - ANC 3
Sheran Dunlas

3. What is the responsibility of diamond corporations and retailers to ensure that

they are dealing with conflict-free diamonds? Explain
It is the duty and responsibility of every diamond corporations and retailers to deal
with conflict-free diamonds. In order for them to ensure they are not following
unethical practises, they must have absolute code of ethics that governs the
organization from top to bottom. This will also help the organization from involving
in any other unethical behaviour.
Also they should be registered with the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme
(KPCS). KPCS is the process established in 2003 to prevent "conflict diamonds" from
entering the market. The process was implemented in order to ensure that diamond
purchasers were not involved in conflict diamonds.
There are certain principles that they should be following to make sure that they are
not part of blood diamond trading. Below are few principles followed by the members
of the KPCS members.
Trade only with companies that include warranty declarations on their invoices
Not to buy diamonds from suspect sources or unknown suppliers, or which
originate in countries that have not implemented the KPCS.
Not to buy diamonds from any sources that, after a legally binding due process
system, have been found to have violated government regulations restricting
the trade in conflict diamonds.
Not to buy diamonds in or from any region that is subject to an advisory by a
governmental authority indicating that conflict diamonds are emanating from
or available for sale in such region, unless diamonds have been exported from
such region in compliance with the KPCS.
Not to knowingly buy or sell or assist others to buy or sell conflict diamonds;
Ensure that all company employees that buy or sell diamonds within the
diamond trade are well informed regarding trade resolutions and government
regulations restricting the trade in conflict diamonds.
Kimberley Process Certification Scheme - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 2004..
[ONLINE] Available at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kimberley_Process_Certification_Scheme. [Accessed 20
June 2014].
By undertaking such principles and code of ethics, retailers can ensure that they are
dealing with conflict-free diamonds.

Ethics - ANC 4
Sheran Dunlas

4. To what extent should consumers be responsible for investigating their

purchases before they buy? Is there a moral difference between buying blood
diamonds and buying goods produced in sweat shops?
Every consumer should be aware of the product they are consuming. Many consumers
just blindly following the words of the supplier, without the knowledge of the product
origin. No consumers would like to buy products which are produced at the cost of
human blood. As consumers, we should investigate before purchasing.
We should be aware of the product as well as the company that is selling the product.
Consumers have the rights to ask the supplier for proper details of the product, as in
where it was manufactures, what are the materials used in the production and where
the product is originated. If the supplier is unable to answer or is in a confused state, it
clearly states that there are some unethical practises involved. Hence it is the duty of
all consumers not to purchase from such suppliers.
As I have mentioned above, blood diamond are illegal trading of diamonds by rebels
and terrorists in order to finance war against legitimate government. Purchasing these
diamonds is equal to taking the lives of humans, for at the end of the day the money of
the consumers are the ones that used to finance the war and kill thousands of
innocents. Also many slaves and children are used to mine these diamonds with the
cost of their lives and future. Whereas as a sweatshop is a factory or workshop where
many people are employed at a lower wage for long hours to work under a poor
environment. These are especially seen in clothing and apparel industries.
Both blood diamonds and sweatshops are unethical behaviour, but there is indeed a
moral difference in buying a blood diamond and buy a good produced from a
sweatshop. As I said in the above paragraph, by purchasing blood diamonds we are
fund for war and killing of innocent lives. But by purchasing a good from a sweatshop
we are contributing an amount for the wages of those who work many hours in those
poor environment.

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Sheran Dunlas

5. Write a page long answer in relation to Child Labour and Child Soldiers in the
illegal trades.
Child labour refers to the employment of children in any work that strips away the
children of their childhood, interferes with their ability to attending school, and that
are mentally or morally dangerous and harmful. Child soldier is also a form of child
labour where the children are used in armed forces to be part of wars and rebels.
In many countries which were in war and are in war, children are used as labours and
soldiers. Thousands and thousands of innocent young girls and boys are forced to
participate in the wars that were caused by adults. As participation in these wars, these
children are robbed away from their future and life.
As shown in the movie, many children are manipulated and drugged by adults to
participate in a war which they have no involvement in. some children are used to
mine for diamonds by implementing fear on their young and innocent hearts. Such
cruel acts are taken form in many different countries for illegal trades. Some children
are used in production of heroines, smuggling of drugs and many more illegal
activities.
As an end result, many children die in conflicts and those who survive loses
themselves. Just like Dia Vendy who loses himself and points a gun at his own
father, many children get addicted to much immoral behaviour and forget who they
really were. These cruel fate, are all because of the illegal trades conducted by power
and money hungry men who do not care about the value of another human being.
The future lies in the hands of the young generations but those hands are tainted in
blood either by holding a weapon to kill or a tool to work. Many organizations have
merged in order to stop such fate being imposed and young children and protecting
them. But as long as there are people who conduct immoral and unethical activities,
there will be thousands of children losing their lives.

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Sheran Dunlas

Reference
Kimberley Process Certification Scheme - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
2004.. [ONLINE] Available at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kimberley_Process_Certification_Scheme.
[Accessed 20 June 2014].
Yerudiam --. 2006. [ONLINE] Available at:
http://www.yerudiam.com/ed_conflictdiamond.html. [Accessed 20 June 2014].
consumer responsibilities | Ministry of Trade and Industry. 2014. [ONLINE]
Available at: http://www.mti.gov.bw/content/consumer-responsibilities.
[Accessed 20 June 2014].
Ethical Issue Analyis--Blood Diamond Analysis. 2010. [ONLINE] Available
at: http://www.scribd.com/doc/89089538/Ethical-Issue-Analyis-BloodDiamond-Analysis. [Accessed 20 June 2014].
About | KimberleyProcess. 2003. [ONLINE] Available at:
http://www.kimberleyprocess.com/en/about. [Accessed 20 June 2014].