Zambia has drafted legislation aimed at domesticating the international chemical convention that prohibits the production, development and stockpiling of dangerous weapons, a senior government official said on Tuesday in Lusaka.
Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Tens Kapoma, said that though Zambia was not a producer or a possessor of chemical weapons, it supports international efforts aimed at dealing with dangerous chemical weapons.
"Zambia has so far, in conjunction with various stakeholders drafted legislation which recently passed all three parliamentary readings," Kapoma told a sub-regional meeting to discuss the chemical weapons convention.
The meeting has been organized to discuss challenges faced by southern African countries in monitoring trade in dangerous chemicals in the region.
He said after passing the parliament, the draft legislation was now ready to be signed into law by President Levy Mwanawasa.
"Zambia shall have a piece of legislation that prohibits any activity prohibited by the convention," he said.
Zambia signed the convention in 1993 and ratified it in 2001. The convention was established in 1997 and so far about 182 state parties have signed and ratified it. About 48 of these countries are from Africa.
However, the convention demands that state parties adopts necessary measures to implement it by domesticating it into national laws.
The Zambian minister said with recent spate of terrorist activities, there was need for state parties to domesticate the convention.
The convention prohibits the development, production, stockpiling, transfer and use of chemical weapons. It also spells out chemicals categorized in three schedules according to their toxicity and perceived risks and member states are obliged to put in place import and export controls of these chemicals.
The implementation of the convention is currently being overseen by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).
OPCW Head Declarations Branch, Stephen Wade, told the meeting that the increased globalization trade poses a challenge on southern African countries in monitoring trade in dangerous chemicals.
"Here in southern Africa, trade with other countries and regions will increase in the future and the challenges of effectively monitoring the trade in scheduled chemicals will need to be tackled by each of the state parties in the region," Wade said.
He said that the monitoring and control of the convention's scheduled chemicals was one of the core elements in the efforts to prevent proliferation of chemical weapons.
While acknowledging efforts being made by state parties in implementing the convention, Wade said there was need to intensify efforts aimed at eliminating trade in dangerous chemicals.
Source: Xinhua
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