The right to food is a recognized human right. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted in December 1948, proclaims that “everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself (herself!) and of his (her!) family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care ..” (Article 25 of the Declaration). Now that food prices for basic foods are soaring and global food stocks are lower than expected, there is fear that hunger and therewith poverty will not decrease – as is the plan of the 2015Millennium Development Goals – but rather increase and spread into areas of society where it was not expected.

Valentine’s Day is behind us. International Women’s Day – celebrated in the formerly Communist ruled countries of Eastern Europe – just ahead of us: 8 March. Time to reflect on the sparkle of pebble stones, commonly referred to as ‘diamonds’. Why? The marketing campaign surrounding them is the picture-perfect-finish to utilizing gender roles.

The slogan “Diamond’s are a girls best friend” are the epitome of women being passive recipients of the value that the patriarchal system sees fit and taking care of these goods – be they gems or children – for ever after. As has been demonstrated by Edward Jay Epstein the goal is that the supply of diamonds is to be solely on the diamond “producers”; women are thus to hold onto their jewelry and not bring it back into the market. The price is set solely by the “producers.” 

Obviously, there are numerous human rights and exploitation issues involved in the selection of mines – endangering indigenous tribes, the mining process and the cutting of diamonds. To top it off, there are also press freedom concerns related to the books (e.g. Janine Roberts, Tom Zoellner) that have been published about the diamond industry, which tend to not be written up in media dependent on advertising by diamond dealers.