Exploited Workers in Africa

I'm not usually one to just pass out a link and say, "See for Yourself"but one of the areas where I really sympathize is horrible working conditions and war in 3rd world countries to meet a global demand for stuff - in this case, gold:

Mining for Bling

The Democratic Republic of Congo has been fighting off attacks from insurgents and other government funded militias who create civil unrest and cause genocide within the country. Only recently has the United Nations been able to stabilize the country.
There, once "child soldiers" have now become child miners, paying a local mining fee to warlords and earning 25 cents profit each day mining. The children take liquid mercury (you know, the stuff that had Arlington Heights all abuzz a few years back because of a possible spill in the crawlspace of a suburban home) and mix it with mud to absorb gold they find. They handle this mercury with their bare hands.

All of this is because gold is:

1. Used as an international currency and
2. Highly desired by people to have shiny things to wear.

I won't even get into diamonds and the whole joke of the Kimberly Accord.

Though dated back in 1982 - very little has changed since this fascinating article written in The Atlantic, Ever Try to Sell a Diamond?

The bottom line is, you can't. Used Diamonds don't hold their value and their value doesn't increase beyond inflation, all being controlled by the diamond monopoly, aka De Beers. They paid a $295 million fee to settle their price fixing schemes back in January.

If you bought a diamond recently, you just missed the window to claim a 30% refund off your purchase price by settling at diamondclassaction.com