Green Party peace policy

Strangely, there is no mention of peace, war or Trident in the Green Party MiniManifesto of 2015. You have to go to the full version of the 2015 manifesto to find the following:

Decommission the Trident nuclear deterrent system and promote peacemaking. (p7)

and the section on Security and defence (p70, emphasis added):

The UK’s recent history has been scarred by involvement in ill-advised military interventions that have undermined our national and international security. The Green Party opposed these interventions, which have brought havoc to Iraq and Libya and only fragile gains in Afghanistan, as well as driving an increased terrorist threat closer to home – all at the cost of many precious lives and vast amounts of money and other resources that could have been better used for other needs.

We will restructure and update the UK’s security and defence establishments and services so that they contribute to the international good. We will:

• Pursue a policy of ‘defensive defence’, which threatens no one yet makes it clear that threats and attacks will be resisted.

• Take a leading role in preventing violent conflict, genocide and war crimes overseas through (i) helping to develop local capacities to avoid, manage and resolve conflicts; and (ii) enhancing the UK’s well-respected role in genuine peacekeeping and the protection of non-combatant communities.

• Develop policies and programmes for ‘environmental defence’ and disaster mitigation and relief, drawing on the skills and activities of our current military forces and increasing gender representation and training to equip the UK to contribute more effectively in these kinds of human security emergencies.

• Diminish dependence on arms sales through a halt to government subsidies and introducing a strict licensing regime to prevent sales of weapons and military equipment to undemocratic regimes and those that violate human rights (including, at the present time, Israel and Saudi Arabia).

• Look after veterans and their families.

International disarmament and security agreements

The Green Party will ensure that UK security and defence policies are consistent with international law, including international humanitarian law, and that the UK implements in good faith all relevant obligations in the following international treaties: the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, the Outer Space Treaty, the Biological Weapons Convention, the Chemical Weapons Convention, the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, the Mine Ban Treaty, the Cluster Munitions Convention, the Arms Trade Treaty, the UN Programme of Action on Small Arms and Light Weapons, and the Geneva Protocols. We will:

• Enhance UK cooperation with civil society and international agencies to implement relevant UN Security Council Resolutions, including UNSC Resolutions 1325, 1820 and 1889, dealing with the role of gender violence in war and the necessity to involve women at all levels in preventing war and building peace and security.

• Save a massive £100 billion over the next 30 years by cancelling Trident replacement and decommissioning existing nuclear forces and facilities.

• Enhance international security and non-proliferation by initiating and/or joining negotiations on a universally applicable nuclear abolition treaty to prohibit the use, deployment, development, production, stockpiling and transfer of nuclear weapons and requiring their complete elimination.

• Initiate and/or join negotiations on new international treaties and laws to prohibit the development, deployment and use of autonomous weapons (such as ‘killer robots’), depleted uranium weapons, weapon systems that are intended for use in and from outer space, and weapons that leave explosive remnants and toxic legacies in war-affected communities, while mandating the protection of civilians from any new weapons developments for the future.