Implementation of the Geneva Conventions Act, 2012 (Act No. 8 of 2012)

In this Act, unless the context indicates otherwise-

"Constitution"

means the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996;

"Conventions"

means the First Convention, the Second Convention, the Third Convention, the Fourth Convention, Protocol I and Protocol II;

"court"

a)	means a provincial division of the High Court or a court of similar status; and

in the case of a member of the South African National Defence Force who contravenes or fails to comply with this Act while in service or on duty, includes a military court contemplated in section 1 of the Military Discipline Supplementary Measures Act, 1999 (Act No. 16 of 1999), but excludes an Officer Commanding disciplinary hearing;

"First Convention"

means the Geneva Convention for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded and Sick in Armed Forces in the Field, adopted at Geneva on 12 August 1949, which is set out in Schedule 1 and was signed by the Republic on 12 August 1949 and ratified by the Republic on 31 March 1952;

"Fourth Convention"

means the Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, adopted at Geneva on 12 August 1949, which is set out in Schedule 4 and was signed by the Republic on 12 August 1949 and ratified by the Republic on 31 March 1952;

"Minister"

means the Minister of Defence and Military Veterans;

"National Director of Public Prosecutions"

means the person contemplated in section 179(1)(a) of the Constitution and appointed in terms of section 10 of the National Prosecuting Authority Act, 1998 (Act No. 32 of 1998);

"prisoners' representative"

in relation to a particular protected prisoner of war, means the person by whom the functions of prisoners' representative within the meaning of Article 79 of the Third Convention were exercisable in relation to that prisoner at the camp or place at which that prisoner was, at or last before that time, detained as a prisoner of war;

"protected internee"

means a person who is interned in the Republic and who is protected by the Fourth Convention;

"protected prisoner of war"

means a person protected by the Third Convention or a person who is protected as a prisoner of war under Protocol I;

"protecting power"

in relation to a protected prisoner of war or a protected internee, means the power or organisation which is carrying out, in the interests of the power of which he or she is a national, or of whose forces he or she is, or was at any material time, a member, the duties assigned to protecting powers under the Third Convention or Protocol I, as the case may be;

"Protocol I"

means the Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and Relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts, adopted at Geneva on 10 June 1977, which is set out in Schedule 5 and was signed by the Republic on 8 June 1977 and ratified by the Republic on 21 November 1995;

"Protocol II"

means the Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and Relating to the Protection of Victims of Non-International Armed Conflicts, adopted at Geneva on 8 June 1977, which is set out in Schedule 6 and was signed by the Republic on 8 June 1977 and ratified by the Republic on 21 November 1995;

"Second Convention"

means the Geneva Convention for the Amelioration of the Condition of Wounded, Sick and Shipwrecked Members of Armed Forces at Sea, adopted at Geneva on 12 August 1949, which is set out in Schedule 2 and was signed by the Republic on 12 August 1949 and ratified by the Republic on 31 March 1952;

"South African Red Cross Society Act"

means the South African Red Cross Society and Legal Protection of Certain Emblems Act, 2007 (Act No. 10 of2007);

"Third Convention"

means the Geneva Convention Relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War, adopted at Geneva on 12 August 1949, which is set out in Schedule 3 and was signed by the Republic on 12 August 1949 and ratified by the Republic on 31 March 1952;

"this Act"

includes any regulation made in terms of section 19.