Sierra Leone: Academic Uses Film to Raise Plight of Sierra Leone Diamond Miners

Jun 7, 2019 | Matthew Reisz, Times Higher Education
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It is widely known that “blood diamonds” played a major role in funding the rebel Revolutionary United Front during the ghastly civil war in Sierra Leone (1991-2002). Yet initiatives designed to keep such diamonds out of the mainstream market have had little impact on the country’s comparatively neglected artisanal mining sector, where small groups of labourers look for diamonds using only shovels, buckets and sieves. Many rely on “supporters” who give them food and tools but only pay them if they find diamonds. A researcher is now taking his film to the United Nations in New York to raise awareness of their plight.