Ethical investing: How can I buy conflict-free diamonds in Antwerp?

• What’s the Kimberley Process?
• What does the city of Antwerp do to ensure ethical investing in diamonds?
• What’s the result of this process?

The Antwerp diamond sector remains the global leader in the fight against conflict diamonds. Blood diamonds are systematically blocked in Antwerp by the Kimberley Process, a collaboration between governments, the diamond sector and NGOs. This means buying diamonds in Antwerp offers automatic security that your diamonds are ethically responsible. But what does that mean exactly?

What’s the Kimberley Process?

If you choose to buy conflict free diamonds in Antwerp, that means your jeweller is represented by the Antwerp World Diamond Centre (AWDC). This body carefully coordinates and monitors all incoming and outgoing diamonds. The AWDC enforces the Kimberley Process, a strict international control mechanism for the sale of rough diamonds. The Kimberley Process (KP) was first launched in 2000 in the South African town of Kimberley. Since 2008, there have been a total of 79 participants, which together represent 75 countries with an ethical vision of the diamond trade.

Conflict diamonds are stones that are mined and sold, used to finance armed rebels, war and conflict. Men, women and children are used to mine for diamonds under inhumane conditions. Even though most civil wars that used this income are now over, the problem has not been completely eliminated.

What’s the result of such a process?

In case of any possible doubt about the conflict status of a stone, the diamonds are extensively compared with the properties of diamonds from conflict areas. Antwerp is an incredibly important link in the chain with this monitoring, as 84% of the rough diamonds and 50% of the cut diamonds pass through Antwerp at somepoint in their lifecycle.

Buying diamonds in Antwerp is accompanied by a Kimberley certificate. This ensures you can rely on the fact your diamonds are from the purest possible origin. Antwerp has earned its status as the international number one in ethical pure diamonds, both where quality and origin are concerned.

What if I instantly want to buy conflict-free diamonds in Antwerp? Want to find out more about ethical investing? Ask the BNT Diamonds experts for advice or request a quotation now.