| Cartier International provided a grant to the Diamond Development Initiative International (DDI) to focus on implementing "Development Diamond Standards" for artisanally produced diamonds. In Sierra Leone, DDI is working with local leaders and civil society to identify sites where diamonds are produced in ways that are environmentally sound, and where diggers receive a fair price, working under safe conditions.Those diggers' diamonds will be tracked through the trading, polishing and retail system to provide customers with gems that go beyond standard definitions of "ethical" and "fair trade" products. If successful, this pilot program stands to revolutionize the development prospects for miners -- where an estimated 15% of the world's gem diamonds are produced.The Cartier grant will also provide general support, assisting DDI in several projects now under way, including human rights training in Africa, and a major registration project in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which is bringing more than 70,000 miners into the formal sector. |
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