For More Information

The Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism's work on international issues is supported by a generous contribution from Marilyn Herst Karsten.

To learn more, contact RAC Legislative Assistant David Goodman, or visit the following websites:

• Campaign to Eradicate Conflict Diamonds
• Physicans for Human Rights Sierra Leone Campaign
• Amnesty International: Crisis in Sierra Leone
• House International Relations Committee, Democratic Foreign Policy Brief, March 20, 2001
• Global Witness Report: Possibilities for the Identification, Certification and Control of Diamonds
• State Department Report 'U.S. Initiatives on "Conflict Diamonds"'
• 2000 U.S.AID Report, Diamonds and Armed Conflict in Sierra Leone:Proposal for Implementation of a New Diamond Policy and Operations
• U.S. Representative Tony Hall's (R-OH) Conflict Diamond Campaign Website

Endnotes

¹Ian Smillie, Lansana Gberie and Ralph Hazelton, Sierra Leone: Diamonds and War, pg. 1.

²To be clear: if diamond revenues were not being used to purchase weapons that are used against the unarmed population, there would be no concern about the RUF's control of Sierra Leone's diamonds. It is the link between diamonds, weapons and abuses that is of concern, not diamonds in and of themselves.

³Holly Burkhalter,"Deadly Diamonds: Gems Sold in the United States Pay for Atrocities in West Africa", Legal Times, pg. 74.

^4"De Beers calls for firm diamond industry action on 'conflict diamonds", De Beers Press Relaease, June 14, 2000.

Last Updated May 11, 2001