Hon Chairperson, hon Ministers, and hon members, the passing of the Prohibition or Restriction of Certain Conventional Weapons Bill, the CCW, by Parliament today confirms that South Africa as a state party adheres to the international humanitarian laws and it also confirms that the ANC is indeed an organisation with an international outlook.
In the same vein, the agenda of our government to have a peaceful country, continent and world, is slowly coming into being and South Africa is a force to be reckoned with as a progressive pace setter, by being an example in taking decisions that other countries, especially the G77 countries are hesitant to take. Therefore, we hereby salute our country for its bravery and consistency in maintaining world peace and stability.
Hon members, today we are legislating on a convention which came into being in 1980 and South Africa, through a democratic ANC-led government, became a state party in 1995. The CCW seeks to limit the effects of armed conflicts on both combatants and noncombatants. Therefore, this legislation today will give full effect to the convention as per the requirements of Article 14 of Protocol 2. The portfolio committee underwent a trying time during the discussion of this Bill. It had to consider the research and development that the country acquired over time. We also had to consider the views of South African defence-related industries and all stakeholders. In general we are maturing and the impact of this legislation on these industries will be seen over time.
The committee also did extensive research to look at how many state parties that are signatories to the convention have legislated on this convention. We discovered that South Africa is the first to legislate and the majority of G77 countries had made both reservations and declarations to empower their defence industries to remain in the economic nest.
Countries of the north continue to participate in activities that seek to undermine world peace; an example is that of the role of America in Iraq. Saddam Hussein is no more, but we are still looking forward to the discovery of weapons of mass destruction, because all we observe at this juncture is the flexing of muscles and a display by the American fleet of their defence material in Iraq.
In my view, this suggests that America avoids participating in exercises with other countries in case they learn their defence strategies, and rather engage in violence and bullying of the weaker nations who do not toe the American line in the United Nations Security Council. If I may ask: At which point are we as citizens of the world going to respect countries' sovereignty? What lessons have we learnt from the Cold War? Israel, for instance, used cluster bombs, cluster munitions and phosphorus on Palestinian civilians who were not necessarily a military objective and was against rules of engagement in a war situation where civilian vicinities were not respected. One expects us to respect civilian vicinities and not use cluster and explosive ordnance in an engagement of war.
Much as we want to protect civilians and civilian objects, we also need to protect our military objectives from grievous bodily harm. Therefore, we need to protect our soldiers deployed in the Comoros, Darfur, Sudan and elsewhere in peacekeeping missions so that they are not in any way hit by these incendiary weapons, because they are holding the peace flag high and help the destitute.
We also welcome deployment of the Nato warship to participate in Exercise Amazolo with the South African Navy to maintain peace in the African continent and in our waters in particular, to show that nations of the world are indeed serious about keeping peace.
I also want to take this opportunity to thank colleagues in the defence portfolio committee for displaying maturity and unity when dealing with this legislation. This is a collective of individuals who are responsible for national security. Our colleagues on the other side of the floor also showed maturity. I really appreciate their participation.
Thanks to those members who sacrificed other responsibilities and sat in all meetings that carefully crafted this piece of legislation, and also to those officials who provided legal advice.
I therefore ensure that the ANC at all times supports Bills of this nature. The ANC supports the Bill. I thank you. [Applause.]