Chairperson, thank you for the opportunity to participate in this debate. I want to focus on the prohibited and restricted conventional weapons, as contained in sections 5, 6, 7 and 8 of the Bill. The Bill ensures that a distinction is drawn between categories of conventional weapons that are prohibited on the one hand and restricted on the other. Prohibited conventional weapons refer to nondetectable fragments and blinding laser weapons. Let us deal with this category.
Protocol I of the convention deals solely with the nondetectable fragments. It briefly states that the use of any weapon of which the primary effect is to injure by fragments which cannot be detected in the human body by X-rays is prohibited.
Protocol IV of the convention deals with the use of blinding laser weapons. Article 1 prohibits the use of laser weapons specifically designed to cause permanent blindness to the naked eye. It is clear that no country that ratifies the protocol shall transfer such weapons to any state or nonstate entity. Article 2 specifies that in the event of the use of such weapons, countries should take feasible precautions to avoid the incidence of permanent blindness. Article 3 refers to blinding as an incidental or collateral effect of the legitimate military employment of laser systems, including laser systems used against optical equipment. Article 4 spells out what is meant by permanent blindness, namely the irreversible or uncorrectable loss of vision which is seriously disabling with no prospect of recovery.
The second category is restricted conventional weapons, which include mines, booby-traps or other devices and incendiary weapons. This Bill describes the former as weapons which employ a mechanism or device specifically designed to detonate ammunition. It is prohibited in all circumstances to direct these weapons either in offence, defence or reprisal against the civilian population. The indiscriminate use of such weapons also includes the indiscriminate placement of those weapons. Feasible precautions must be taken to protect civilians from the effects of these weapons.
With regard to antipersonnel mines this Bill is not applicable, because they are prohibited in terms of the Antipersonnel Mines Prohibition Act, Act 36 of 2003.
Section 7 of the Bill refers to the incendiary weapons, which means weapons or munitions which are primarily designed to set fire to objects or cause burn injury to civilians through the action of flame, heat or combination thereof, produced by a chemical reaction of a substance delivered on the target.
In terms of section 10 of the Bill any person in possession of any prohibited weapon or component part immediately after the commencement of the Act, must within six months notify a police official of such possession and hand it over to the South African Police Service. All weapons and component parts collected shall be forfeited to the state. In closing, the ANC supports the Bill.