They are the colour of love and a symbol of passion. With the exception of diamonds, they are harder and hence more durable than all other gemstones. And get this! They are rarer and more valuable than top quality colourless diamonds.
According to one report an 8.62 carat ruby from Myanmar fetched a whopping $5.39 million at a Christie's auction last year. So then, a great investment? A fabulous stocking filler for a loved one this Christmas? Perhaps not!
Of course, we’re talking rubies.
Burma ...all the world’s rubies in my hands
But before we launch into a debate about the ethics of buying rubies, here are some interesting facts:
Burma’s Mogok region, or Myanmar, is said to be the place where the world’s finest rubies are found. The colour of these precious gems is described as "Burma Red" or "pigeon blood colour". Apparently a deep rich red imbued with a hint of blue. Only 5% of the world’s rubies are of this quality, and they principally are found here, in Burma.
The next best grade of ruby is also found in Burma, this time in the Mong Hsu region. These second-top rate gems are also found in Ceylon. And then there are the rubies mined in Thailand, Africa and Vietnam - for the most part these are commercial (industrial) grade stones. Staggeringly, 90% of the planets 40th anniversary stones hail from Burma.
So, little surprise that trading in rubies is an ethical debate which has come under the spotlight in recent months.
Do you want "pigeon blood" on your hands?
Good rubies are incredibly beautiful things. You might have a 40th wedding anniversary coming up. Or you might just want to spoil somebody this Christmas. So what do you do? Well if you are investing in a ruby, you’d really want a stone from Burma where the best and most beautiful are mined. Right?
Well in theory, yes. But would you really want this hanging over your conscience this Christmas? After all, the Burmese junta killed an estimated 3,000 people during the last major uprising in 1988. And the Junta’s generals are estimated to have earned around $750 million since the trade in official gem and jade sales began in 1964.
That is before you consider the illegal trade into China and Thailand where demand is rampant. According to one report, gem exports generated US$297 million for Burma for the financial year to March 2007.
Gemstones mined in Burma are said to line the pockets of these men in power. In fact, the state owns a majority stake in all Burma’s mining operations - including the Mogok region, famed for the "pigeon blood" stones.
Worse still, the miners work in "atrocious" and "dangerous" conditions, says Mark Farmaner, acting director of the Burma Campaign. Another campaigner, Debbie Stothard of the Alternative Asean Network, reckons that miners are given heroin and methamphetamines to increase productivity — the shared needles have quickly spread HIV among the mining population.
This is just not cricket. And it’s about time governments sat up and took note. Thankfully, it seems they are. International pressure to halt the lucrative trade in Burmese rubies and other precious stones (sapphires, pearls and jade) is mounting. Recently, the EU said it will soon impose trade sanctions on luxury goods from Burma including precious metals, wood products and gems.
The International Trade Union Confederation has been contacting big retailers demanding they stop selling the stones. And that seems to having an impact. Italian jewellery and luxury goods maker Bulgari, France’s Cartier and Tiffany have come to the party by asking suppliers to certify that jewels do not come from Myanmar.
As always, though, there is a counterargument. Some Singaporean jewellers, like Li-Hong Jade and Gems, are still willing to trade in rubies because, after all, gemstones are their lifeblood! Another Singaporean, the president of the Far East Gemological Lab, says miners depend on mining for a living. The only people that will NOT suffer are the people at the top, he says.
Frankly we don’t really buy this argument. You could have said the same about the South African boycotts. But sanctions were a necessary part of breaking up the apartheid regime.
Surprise surprise...US loophole sees bloodied gems slip through the net
International pressure is mounting against US too. Put it this way... if people buying rubies have blood on their hands, as is claimed by many human rights campaigners, so too does the US government. Although it banned imports from Burma in 2003, its Customs & Border Protection act created a loophole, allowing gemstones to enter the US legally.
The US, you see, has made a distinction between the rough stones from Burma and the final cut and polished product. Most rubies leave Burma in a rough form. Providing the stone is "substantially transformed" rubies can enter the US. The US import statistics show that only 3% of the rubies come from Burma and more than 50% from Thailand. If 90% of the world’s rubies come from Burma, this doesn’t quite add up.
The film Blood Diamond may have raised awareness of the role of precious sparklers in fuelling some of Africa’s most vicious conflicts. But even when the war was raging in Sierra Leone, only 4% to 15% of diamonds came from conflict zones. If 90% of the world’s rubies come from Burma this should be an even bigger concern!
If in future trade sanctions do come about (an unknown quantity at this point), rubies may become rarer. But who wants to wear a piece of jewellery that symbolises blood? Not us!
Keep digging,
Erin and Isabel
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