Diamonds

Ruth only sources diamonds from legitimate suppliers who guarantee on their invoices that they do not buy conflict diamonds.

Conflict Diamonds
A few years ago the jewellery industry discovered that in some parts of Africa, small-scale diamond mining was being exploited by illegal militias to support civil war and conflict. These diamonds have been referred to as "conflict diamonds".

To prevent conflict diamonds from entering the legitimate supply chains of the jewellery industry a monitoring system was introduced in 2003 called the Kimberley Process. This certification scheme was designed by the United Nations and the World Diamond Council. It ensures that mining of diamonds is strictly supervised at government level and that legitimately mined diamonds, in their rough state (before cutting and polishing) are only transferred between participating countries under strictly monitored conditions, in tamper proof containers, and accompanied by the appropriate documentation.

Around 70 countries now participate in the Kimberley Process and  today it covers over 99% of the world diamond trade.