Mia Farrow
Mia Farrow is an American actress, singer, and former fashion model. Mia Farrow is the daughter of the director John Farrow. Farrow has appeared in more than forty-five films and won numerous awards, including a Golden Globe award, five BAFTA Film AwardSan Sebastian International Film Festival. Farrow is also notable for her extensive humanitarian work as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador. She advocates for involvement in humanitarian activities in Darfur, Chad, and the Central African Republic. In 2008, she was selected by Time. nominations, and a win for best actress at the magazine as one of the most influential people in the world.
Naomi Campbell
Naomi Campbell is a British model born on 22 May 1970. Discovered while shopping in London, Campbell started her career in the 1980s and soon appeared on the catwalks of Milan and Paris as well as on the cover pages of internationally renowned fashion magazines. She is also known for perfumes associated with her name, and for a series of legal issues.
Blood Diamonds
Blood diamonds, also known as conflict diamonds, are defined by the UN as gems that originate from areas controlled by forces or factions opposed to legitimate and internationally recognized governments, and are used to fund military action against those governments, or in contravention of the decisions of the UN security council. They have funded conflicts in Africa that have led to the death and displacement of millions of people. Diamonds have also been used by terrorist groups such as al-Qaida to finance their activities and for money-laundering purposes.
Why is Charles Taylor on trial at The Hague?
The former Liberian president is being tried on 11 counts of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and other serious violations of international law committed during Sierra Leone's civil war. The alleged crimes specifically include murdering and mutilating civilians, using women and girls as sex slaves, and abducting adults and children and making them perform forced labor or become fighters.
Taylor is charged on the basis of his alleged role as a major backer of the Sierra Leone rebel group the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), and close association with a second warring faction, the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council. He is alleged to have been rewarded with blood diamonds from Sierra Leone in return for helping Foday Sankoh's RUF. The RUF was notorious for tactics such as mass rapes and amputations during a conflict that left between 50,000 and 200,000 dead before it was formally declared over in 2002. Sankoh was also indicted for war crimes but died from a stroke while awaiting trial at The Hague.
Naomi Campbell was called to testify by the prosecution for having allegedly received a diamond as a gift from Taylor in 1997. There is no suggestion that Campbell knew the possible origin of the diamond.
Prosecutors say the story, backs up allegations that Taylor traded guns to neighbouring Sierra Leone rebels in exchange for uncut diamonds. The prosecution argues that the diamond allegedly given to Campbell was likely to have been part of a batch obtained by Taylor from Sierra Leone and taken to South Africa for sale or exchange for arms.
Why is Charles Taylor on trial at The Hague?
The former Liberian president is being tried on 11 counts of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and other serious violations of international law committed during Sierra Leone's civil war. The alleged crimes specifically include murdering and mutilating civilians, using women and girls as sex slaves, and abducting adults and children and making them perform forced labor or become fighters.
Taylor is charged on the basis of his alleged role as a major backer of the Sierra Leone rebel group the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), and close association with a second warring faction, the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council. He is alleged to have been rewarded with blood diamonds from Sierra Leone in return for helping Foday Sankoh's RUF. The RUF was notorious for tactics such as mass rapes and amputations during a conflict that left between 50,000 and 200,000 dead before it was formally declared over in 2002. Sankoh was also indicted for war crimes but died from a stroke while awaiting trial at The Hague.
Naomi Campbell was called to testify by the prosecution for having allegedly received a diamond as a gift from Taylor in 1997. There is no suggestion that Campbell knew the possible origin of the diamond.
Prosecutors say the story, backs up allegations that Taylor traded guns to neighbouring Sierra Leone rebels in exchange for uncut diamonds. The prosecution argues that the diamond allegedly given to Campbell was likely to have been part of a batch obtained by Taylor from Sierra Leone and taken to South Africa for sale or exchange for arms.
