"Gem Slaves: Tanzanite's Child Labour", produced by IRIN Films, tells the story of child miners in northern Tanzania who work underground under life threatening conditions to mine for a rare gem called tanzanite. The film was produced as an advocacy tool to increase awareness and understanding of this humanitarian crises and aims to assist fellow humanitarian actors in their advocacy efforts.

Mererani in northern Tanzania is the only place on earth where the precious stone tanzanite is mined. Although the industry is worth $300 million a year, the town's residents live in desperate poverty, with children bearing the heaviest load. Every day thousands risk their lives in poorly constructed mine shafts for barely a meal a day. Despite efforts to curb this deadly practice, the global thirst for tanzanite continues to drive these children underground.

E-mail received from IRIN news on September 08 2006and IRIN website on October 10 2006.