1 / 25

Ceasefire Campaign

Ceasefire Campaign. submission on the NCAC Amendment Bill Rob Thomson. Ceasefire Campaign. Aims and Objectives To contribute to disarmament and peace in South and Southern Africa To work towards the demilitarization of society and for human rights

habib
Download Presentation

Ceasefire Campaign

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Ceasefire Campaign submission on the NCAC Amendment Bill Rob Thomson

  2. Ceasefire Campaign Aims and Objectives • To contribute to disarmament and peace in South and Southern Africa • To work towards the demilitarization of society and for human rights • To campaign for a reduction in military spending and the transfer of resources to development and poverty eradication.

  3. Agenda • Conventional arms • Foreign military assistance

  4. Conventional arms • s.1: ‘controlled items’ • s.8: delegation and assignment • s.9: Auditor General’s scope • s.14: end-user certificate • s.17: reports by the NCACC • s.20: exemptions • other sections

  5. Conventional arms: s.1 ‘controlled items’

  6. Conventional arms: s.1 ‘controlled items’ Problems with proposed definition: • Regulatory capture • Excessive administrative discretion Submission: • Spell out the intentions in the Act • Include current and intended items • Leave the details fo regulation

  7. Conventional arms: s.8: delegation and assignment

  8. Conventional arms: s.8: delegation and assignment Problem with amendment to s.11: • Case-by-case requirement e.g. China-Zimbabwe arms shipment Submission: • Make delegation subject to case-by-case assessment by Committee

  9. Conventional arms: s.9: Auditor-General’s scope

  10. Conventional arms: s.9: Auditor-General’s scope Problems with amendment to s.12: • Reduces the scope of Auditor-General’s responsibility • Reduces transparency and accountability • Exacerbates regulatory capture Submission: • Delete ‘financial’

  11. Conventional arms: s.14: end-user certificate

  12. Conventional arms: s.14: end-user certificate Problems with proposed s.17(3): • Undermines the purpose of EUCs • Undermines s.15 i.r.o. end user Submission: • Must be subject to s.15 i.r.o. end user

  13. Conventional arms s.14: end-user certificate (ctd.) Problems with proposed s.17(4): • NCACC must avoid contravention of EUCs issued • NCACC won’t know Submission: • Amend s.15 to avoid contravention • The competent authority must inform the NCACC

  14. Conventional arms: s.17: reports by the NCACC

  15. Conventional arms: s.17: reports by the NCACC Problem with proposed s.23(1): • SA not complying with UN requirements Submission: • Retain the current provisions of s.23(1)(a)

  16. Conventional arms: s.17: reports by the NCACC (ctd.) Problems with deletion of s.23(1)(b): • NCACC has been delinquent in reporting • Transparency/accountability delayed is transparency/accountability denied Submission: • Retain the current provisions of s.23(1)(b)

  17. Conventional arms: s.17: reports by the NCACC (ctd.) Problems with proposed s.23(3): • Conflict with requirements of transparency • Transparency & accountability should be improved, not reduced • Public must have the right to know • Confidentiality clauses cannot ‘prohibit’ compliance with the intentions of the law • Military & commercial secrets are not greater than the requirements of the law

  18. Conventional arms: s.17: reports by the NCACC (ctd.) Submission: • In lieu of the proposed s.23(3)&(3) (numbering duplicated), amend the current s.23(1)(b)(ii) by deleting: “except if disclosure is prohibited in terms of a confidentiality clause in the contract of sale”

  19. Conventional arms: s.17: reports by the NCACC (ctd.) Problems with proposed s.23(4): • Seeks to cover the NCACC with a blanket of secrecy • Proposed that, in general, access to information should be denied • Contrary to open democracy Submission: Retain the current provisions of s.23(3)

  20. Conventional arms: s.20: exemptions

  21. Conventional arms: s.20: exemptions Problems with proposed s.25A: • serious qualifications of the NCACC process Submission: • Emergencies should be treated as such • Delete the proposed s.25A

  22. Conventional arms: other sections • s.3(c): textual problem • s.5: no motivation • s.7: no motivation • s.10: textual problem • s.11: textual problem

  23. Foreign military assistance: Problems Problems: • Separate acts unnecessary, difficult to read • NCAC Act focuses Committee’s function on ‘controlled items’, not mercenary activities • Poorly integrated into legislation; e.g.: • criteria in s.15 of NCAC Act different from s.9 of PMA Act • different provisions re fines • ‘permit’ in the NCAC Act excludes ‘authorisation’ in the PMA Act

  24. Foreign military assistance: Submission • Replace both Acts with a new combined Act, focusing on both the control of conventional arms and the prohibition of mercenary activity. • Tighten the provisions of s.15 of the NCAC Act and s.9 of the PMA Act so as to achieve consistency.

  25. Ceasefire Campaign submission on the NCAC Amendment Bill Rob Thomson

More Related