Diamonds may be a girl's best friend, but a woman should always ask where they come from, a campaign group warned yesterday.
The Sierra Leone Ireland Partnership said action must be taken to ensure diamonds do not come via smugglers, terrorists, criminals or slave masters.
Both jewellers and customers were urged to check the origins of all gems to avoid the negative effects of the illicit trade on poor countries like Sierra Leone.
"Despite producing spectacularly large stones like the 970 carat Star of Sierra Leone, the people of Sierra Leone have benefited little from having diamonds under their feet," Mr Martin Rowan, secretary of the group, said.
Mr Rowan said Irish consumers should help the mining communities and Sierra Leone's economy by ensuring a jeweller provides them with a warranty guaranteeing the diamonds were purchased from legitimate traders.
He urged the Government to support studies by development agencies who are trying to promote effective monitoring of the diamond trade.
The campaigner said diamonds were a substantial source of foreign exchange in the years up until the civil war erupted in 1991.
During the 10-year conflict the amount of diamonds smuggled across the borders increased dramatically, with gems exchanged for weapons and ammunition at the Liberian border. The group said the trauma inflicted on local people forced to mine the gems and smuggle them across the border was appalling.
- (PA)