Blood Diamond, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Connelly, and Djimon Hounsou, opens on Friday. Pepperdine student Christina Tippitt, who has seen an advance screening, recommends the film enthusiastically.
Back on September 18, Amnesty International sponsored a National Day of Action on Conflict Diamonds during which AI members conducted surveys in 246 diamond retailers in eighteen states. Here are some of the results from that survey:
- Only 27% of shops were able assure us that they had a policy on conflict diamonds.
- 30% of the shops that said they had a policy were unable to produce a hard copy of or explain it.
- Only 13% of shops provided warranties to their customers as a standard practice.
- 37% of the shops we visited claimed to be aware of the conflict diamonds issue. But 54% of them reported an inaccurate definition of the crisis.
- Only 28% of the shops were aware of the Kimberley Process.
- 29% of those who were aware of the Kimberley Process had only a minimal or limited understanding of it.
- When asked whether consumers inquired about conflict diamonds, 83% of respondents answered rarely or never.
- 110 shops refused outright to take the survey.
If you have a chance to see the movie, come on back here and leave a comment about it.