South Africa declared its Consent to be bound to Protocol II, as amended, and Protocol IV of the Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the use of Certain Conventional Weapons which may be Deemed to be Excessively Injurious or to have Indiscriminate Effects, commonly known as the CCW.
This declaration was deposited at the Office of the Secretary General of the United Nations in New York on 26 June 1998.
South Africa acceded to this Convention and its Protocols I, II and III, on 13 September 1995. The Convention, which was concluded in 1980, was opened for signature by all Member States of the United Nations for a period of twelve months from 10 April 1983. The convention came into force on 2 December 1983 and currently has been ratified by 70 States.
The objective of the convention is to prohibit the use of the above-mentioned weapons which have indiscriminately caused death and injury to millions of people world-wide including innocent civilians.
The Convention includes the Treaty and four Protocols entitled respectively:
- Protocol on Non-detectable Fragments (I)
- Protocol on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the use of Mines, Booby-traps and Other Devices (II)
- Protocol on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the use of Incendiary Weapons (III)
- Protocol on Blinding Laser Weapons (IV)
Protocol II is the most substantive of the three Protocols to the Convention and deals with mines, booby-traps and other devices which have been used indiscriminately in a large number of recent conflicts, particularly internal conflicts. It is for this reason that State Parties decided to convene a Reviewed Conference in 1995 to amend the Protocol and render its provisions more restrictive as well as consider the adoption of a new Protocol IV on Blinding Laser Weapons.
The new Protocol IV was adopted on 13 October 1995 and the amended Protocol II was adopted on 3 May 1996. The scope of Protocol II, as amended, has been extended to include conflicts of a non-international character, a significant improvement given that most landmines are used in internal conflicts.
In addition the general humanitarian restrictions are stronger, requiring greater discrimination between civilian and military objectives requiring advance warning of mines, booby-traps and other devices. The new Protocol IV places a prohibition on the use of such blinding laser weapons which are designed to cause blindness.
This declaration emphasises that South African Government's commitment to promote international peace and security, to limit and alleviate the suffering which is concomitant to the scourges of war and armed conflict and its responsibility to implement arms control policies as a vehicle to this end.
ISSUED BY THE DEPARTMENT OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS PRETORIA 29 JUNE 1998