America: This week's Golden Globe nominations brought good news to Leonardo DiCaprio, who was nominated for his part in two films, Martin Scorsese's The Departedand Edward Zwick's Blood Diamond.
DiCaprio's good fortune will warm few hearts within the international diamond industry, which is already alarmed by the release of Blood Diamondlast weekend, at the height of the diamond-buying season in the United States.
Set in Sierra Leone during its recent civil war, the film shows the devastation caused by the trade in conflict diamonds - rough stones that are used to fund wars in Africa. DiCaprio plays a mercenary whose search for a hidden diamond brings him face to face with the consequences of the conflict diamond trade.
Blood Diamondshows machete-wielding warlords chopping off people's limbs, kidnapping children and burning villages to the ground.
Concerned that such images of violence could tarnish the allure of a product associated with love, beauty and sophistication, the diamond industry has launched a major PR campaign to protect America's $30 billion annual diamond jewellery market.
The World Diamond Council engaged crisis management firm Sitrick & Co to co-ordinate its response to Blood Diamond, taking out full-page ads in newspapers such as the Los Angeles Times, The New York Timesand USA Todayand sending out talking points to jewellery stores throughout the country.
At the heart of the industry's response is the claim that the Kimberley process, a system for tracing the origin of every diamond sold, has drastically reduced the number of conflict diamonds in circulation.
Cecilia Gardner, general counsel for the US Kimberley Process Authority, claimed cheerfully this week that the industry actually welcomed the film.
"We see this as an opportunity. We've been at this a really long time and we've been working hard to address the problem of conflict diamonds in partnership with governments and NGOs and we're glad that the attention of the world has focused on their efforts.
"We really feel that we provide some information to people about the historical context of the events that are depicted in the movie and that something happened since the time depicted in the movie."
Ms Gardner could not, however, conceal her annoyance with DiCaprio, who said that nobody who accompanied him to next year's Academy Awards ceremony would be wearing diamonds.
"The excuse I heard from Warner Brothers on that quote was that 'Well, he's just talking about his shopping habits' and I don't really understand Leonardo DiCaprio," she said.
Since 2003, countries participating in the Kimberley process, which include the US and all European Union member states, have agreed that no diamond should be sold without a warranty that states where it came from and which international borders it crossed on its journey.
"It requires a provable system of internal controls within countries that control the movement of the diamonds from the mining fields to the point of first export," Ms Gardner said.
"Then, when they are exported, they must be packaged in a tamper-resistant parcel and be accompanied by an individually issued serialised forgery-resistant Kimberley process certificate validated by the government, which asserts that the diamonds carried in that parcel are from the country that is exporting them."
Advocacy groups acknowledge that the Kimberley process has helped to limit the flow of conflict diamonds, but they complain that because it is controlled by the industry itself, the process lacks transparency.
Some groups have called for an independent body to be set up to certify that the diamonds carrying Kimberley certificates are indeed coming from a conflict-free area.
Most human rights groups reject calls for a boycott of the diamond industry, not least because so many people in poor African countries depend on it for their livelihood.
Amnesty International suggests that, before you buy any jewellery containing a diamond, you ask the salesperson the following: "How can I be sure that none of your jewellery contains conflict diamonds? Do you know where the diamonds you sell come from? Can I see a copy of your company's policy on conflict diamonds?
"Can you show me a written guarantee from your diamond suppliers stating that your diamonds are conflict-free?"
