Presently bills have been introduced in both the House (H.R.1415) and Senate (S.760) entitled "Clean Diamond Trade Act" to enact the Kimberly Process, an international agreement to try and stop the atrocities that are connected to and funded by "Conflict Diamonds," as they're called. I strongly urge you to support these bills, and contact your your House Rep. and Senators to express your support. To see the current status of these bills and/or read the legislation you can go here for the House bill or here for the Senate Bill.

quote:

---

[Conflict Diamonds are] linked to terrible human rights abuses either by insurgent groups to fuel conflict and carry out atrocities against innocent civilians or by unscrupulous government who are equally brutal. Amnesty International

---

quote:

---

What we do know is that 75 percent of the world's gem diamonds are mined in Africa, and that UNITA1, in Angola, the RUF 2 in Sierra Leone, and a wide range of rebels and gangsters in the Congo have killed, maimed, and rampaged over huge areas in order to get them. And until four years ago, there was no outrage, no concern, and no action. That changed with a report on Angola by Global Witness, a British nongovernmental organization (NGO), and by a report on Sierra Leone in January 2000 by Partnership Africa Canada. International Development Research Centre

---

okie dokie.lol I really needa check the little side articles on the internet.TV coverage isn't enough.