External Affairs Minister (EAM) S. Jaishankar on April 5 introduced “Weapons of Mass Destruction and their Delivery Systems (Prohibition of Unlawful Activities) Amendment Bill, 2022 in the Lok Sabha.
- It seeks to ban funding of weapons of mass destruction (WMD).
- The bill also empowers the Centre to freeze and seize financial assets of people involved in such activities.
- The bill fulfils India’s international obligations pertaining to weapons of mass destruction.
- The earlier law of 2005 regarding WMDs and their Delivery Systems (Prohibition of Unlawful Activities) only banned their manufacture.
- The United Nations Security Council’s targeted financial sanctions and the recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) have mandated against financing of the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and their delivery systems.
- The Bill seeks to insert a new Section 12A in the existing law (2005) which states that “no person shall finance any activity which is prohibited under this Act, or under the United Nations (Security Council) Act, 1947 or any other relevant Act for the time being in force, or by an order issued under any such Act, in relation to weapons of mass destruction and their delivery systems”.
- The Bill would give the government powers to “freeze, seize or attach funds or other financial assets.
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