I’ve always been fascinated with
gemstones just so that you believe me
here’s a picture of me being caught
red-handed when I was seven years old I
still remember going to my first
gemstone exhibition and as I walked
through the doors of that exhibition I
still remember how fascinated I was when
I saw all the glistening stones I
immediately became interested in the
beautiful colorful objects and within a
couple weeks the gemstones it sparked a
passion within me I started reading and
learning all about them ruby sapphire
garnet onyx amethyst diamond peridot
agate you name it with time I literally
read and learned everything I could find
on crystals minerals and gemstones one
day though when I was about 10 ish I was
researching on the internet I wanted to
find out why diamonds were so rare
compared to all the other gemstones just
for your information it’s because
diamonds are the purest natural form of
crystallized carbon and as a result of
that they’re only formed in specific
types of magma called kimberlites
anyways while I was researching that I
stumbled across an article that shocked
me the article was about diamonds
yes but rather than being about the
Diamonds properties and crystal
structure like all the other articles I
had been before this article is about
how the diamonds were actually obtained
from the earth I at that time had never
even considered that aspect of gemstones
how they were actually mined and when I
read that article I just couldn’t
believe what I read the article
described the life of an actual diamond
miner
and said that in some places children
were forced to work under horrible
working conditions to mine them children
my age sometimes even younger even as
young as five or six being underfed and
night of health care taken away from
home to work for diamond mining
companies as a ten year old at that time
I just couldn’t get myself to believe
that adults would force children to do
this that article deeply resonated with
me and ever since then I have seen
gemstones in a completely different
light and precisely this is why I’m here
today to speak about the real cost of
diamonds well because children are
considered a source of cheap labour they
are employed by several large diamond
mining companies and alarmingly regular
rate in fact according to brilliant
earth a survey taken in a province of
Angola Africa showed that nearly 50
percent of all the diamond miners
working there were aged 5 to 16 children
just like you or me working up to 11
hours a day 6 to 7 days per week no
holidays no weekends no nothing the
thing is despite having work periods
several hours longer than most adults
these children are sometimes only paid
275 US cents per day that’s not even a
dollar in fact that’s 77 times less than
minimum wage in the United States 77
times less the worst part is though that
the parents of such children usually
have such a low income that they have no
choice but to send their own children to
work just a quick show of hands how many
now those of you who raised their hands
I’d like you all to imagine this you
work so hard every day to try earn
enough money to take care of your family
but no matter how hard you work you
aren’t able to provide enough support
for your children how would you feel how
would you feel if you were forced to
send your own children to work every
single day risking their lives in
dangerous diamond mines how would you
feel now this is to all of you I’d like
you all to go back in time and visualize
your life as a seven-year-old for some
of you this may be a long time ago for
others not that much but just try to
really feel what your life was like at
that time as if you re experiencing it
where did you live
what school did you go to what did you
do in your free time what toys did you
play with now imagine this you are still
seven years old but instead of all the
things you did including going to school
you are being forced down a narrow and
claustrophobic mineshaft on the verge of
collapsing you can easily get lost you
barely ever see your parents you work
all day long
almost all week you’re completely
fatigued that you have to keep working
or else you won’t earn enough money you
may be abused or even tortured by this
appears in your diamond mining company
well this is the case of over 1 million
children in Western and Central Africa
only and I just really want to highlight
this one thing these kids that work for
long hours in the diamond mines they’re
really just like any kid in the world
they’re like
me there like you although this thought
may seem hard to process considering
that my life like yours is so different
from one of a diamond miner but I mean
think about it it’s not like people
choose what family they’re born into any
of us that’s right any of us could have
been born into a family of diamond
miners in Western and Central Africa
this could be your life now if you know
the least bit about Africa you know that
in some parts water is extremely scarce
right well did you know that in the
Central African Republic
– the little water that is their
industries such as diamond mining are
the number one cause of water pollution
in the Central African Republic water is
already somewhat scarce but because of
industries such as diamond mining the
majority of it isn’t drinkable in
addition diamond mining if done in
certain ways can cause soil erosion
which makes soil infertile this means
that it is basically impossible to grow
any form of food plant or crop so in a
way the current ways of the diamond
mining industry are not only an issue to
do with human rights
it is also to do with food shortage
water scarcity and even the environment
and this exactly this is why I strongly
believe that this is not only an issue
worth debating but doing something about
but what can we do firstly what can we
do as a community well as a worldwide
community we can create a strict
certification that ensures that a
diamond is ethically mind using
eco-friendly practices although there
already exists a certification called
the conflict-free certification this
only ensures
that the money raised from mining a
diamond is news for war but I mean it
has nothing to do with the protection of
human rights or the protection against
child labor but there is something we
might be able to do another
certification is slowly being put into
motion the Fairtrade certification
now Fairtrade international is an
organization that creates certifications
for industries and ensures that the
products that they certify are ethically
mud are ethically produced using
eco-friendly practices sounds perfect
doesn’t it the thing is it doesn’t exist
for diamond mining or at least not yet
so far Fairtrade international has
created certifications for hundreds of
industries ranging from tea and coffee
planting all the way to even gold and
platinum mining I actually got into
contact with the director of fair trade
in the Czech Republic and asked her
whether or not there whether or not fair
trade would be expanding their standard
to diamond mining in the near future the
director’s answer unfortunately was what
the process is really complicated and
requires a lot of time I was mildly
disappointed by this answer I still
strongly believe that if we support this
idea of ethical diamonds change will be
inevitable no matter what because
ultimately it’s us the customers who had
the power to change the world for the
better or for the worse I mean do what I
did maybe if one person contacts
Fairtrade nothing will happen but if
many people do something probably will I
mean if one day I fall in love with a
woman and want to marry her I want to be
able to buy her an engagement ring
knowing that no water was polluted no
soil was eroded no ecosystem was
destroyed that no child suffered
secondly I
asking myself is there anything that I
could do about this because I mean I’m
just a kid right and then I realized
that maybe just maybe speaking about
this issue aloud would already be
helping and so here I am on the TEDx
stage ethical diamonds should and if we
make the right decisions will be the
because ultimately it’s you the buyer
who can make the real difference you are
the one who can demand Fairtrade
diamonds and therefore stop non ethical
diamonds from being produced which means
that one day all these kids could go to
school where they belong as does any kid
in the world I mean we are all so
fortunate to be able to go to school and
so I strongly believe that it is our
duty to help those less fortunate than
us now before I leave you I’d like to
remind you all of a dr. Jane Goodall
told us earlier this year when she
visited our school what you do makes a
difference and you have to decide what
difference you want to make and so I ask
you all what difference do you want to
make thank you [Applause]