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Child labour in the diamond industry
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<p>Child labour in the diamond industry is a widely reported and criticized issue on <a href="/facts/Diamond_industry/IBUdnd1y">diamond industry</a> for using <a href="/facts/Child_labour/rhdNHpXK">child labour</a> in <a href="/facts/Diamond_mine/AfDclNqd">diamond mines</a> and polishing procedures in poor conditions mainly in <a href="/facts/India/QW4TV4sy">India</a> and African countries. The largest producers of diamonds in Africa in terms of volume are Botswana, Angola, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, with other countries producing significant amounts of diamonds as well. In these mines, children come in contact with minerals, oil and machinery exhaust. In many of these countries, the lack of mining and labor regulations are considered a result of early colonization. In 1997, The <a href="/facts/International_Confederation_of_Free_Trade_Unions/jGrkPk80">International Confederation of Free Trade Unions</a> claimed that child labour was prospering in the diamond industry in Western India, where the majority of the world's diamonds are cut and polished while workers are often paid only a fraction of 1% of the value of the stones they cut. It is argued that economic growth in <a href="/facts/Western_India/TGoARENY">Western India</a> in the 1980s–90s was associated with an increase in the number of child workers who do simple, repetitive manual tasks that do not require long years of training or experience in low-paying hazardous working conditions that involve drudgery, and foreclose the option of school education for most of them. </p><p>There are organizations and people who try to create a public awareness about the issue, including Janine Roberts, The <a href="/facts/Anti-Slavery_International/PNvhjXSU">Anti-Slavery Society</a>, <a href="/facts/Survival_International/br90kMlH">Survival International</a>, IndianNGO, Child Labour News Service (CLNS) managed by the <a href="/facts/Global_march_against_child_labor/VFqIyDYy">global march against child labor</a>, and IHS Child Slave Labor News. </p><p>The United Nations declared 2021 as the International Year for the Elimination of Child Labour. </p>