The world's diamond industry approved the ban on "conflict diamonds" that fund some of Africa's bloodiest civil wars, agreeing to adopt strict measure that monitor manufacturing centers. People at the World Diamond Congress, held in Belgium on July 19th, promised to institute an International Diamond Council, which would regulate the expulsion of traders and potentially prosecute them with criminal charges. The industry's move has been praised by non-governmental organizations, the U.N., and governments that have long pushed for corporate responsibility. Conflict diamonds have partly fueled a multitude of brutal wars in Africa, where hundreds of thousands are left raped, mutilated, and killed in Sierra Leone, Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. According to Human Rights Watch and U.N. groups, women and girls as young as the age of 10 were repeatedly raped and tortured by rebel forces in Sierra Leone.
Media Resources: Financial Times - 21 July 2000 BBC News - 19 July
5/20/2013 Afghan Violence Against Women Law Blocked in Parliament - On Saturday, the Speaker of the Lower House of Afghan Parliament delayed a vote on the Elimination of Violence against Women law after two hours of vociferous debate between conservative religious and more liberal members of Parliament. . . .
5/20/2013 Walmart, American Retailers Refuse to Join Bangladesh Accord - Walmart, along with 13 other major North American companies, refused to sign a legally binding agreement to improve working conditions for overseas factory workers that manufacture their clothes after a garment factory collapsed in Bangladesh killing an estimated 1300 workers, the New York Times reports.
The agreement requires retailers pay $500,000 to improve worker safety measures over a five year period. . . .
