Motion #02
This revised and updated chapter titled Peace Security & Defence is to replace the existing chapter Peace and Defence in the Policies for a Sustainable Society, [PfSS] It updates policy in the light of recent global events including the UK’s withdrawal from the EU. It proposes policies to promote peace in addition to security and defence policy.
PSD 100 The nature of security in the twenty-first century is highly complex, with more rapidly changing and evolving threats including armed conflict, oppression, and exploitation, the climate and ecological emergency and pandemics. It is a central premise of the Green Party that the restructuring of international trading systems and redistribution of resources would be the most efficient and ethical way to address many of these threats. Military spending should be gradually reduced and re-channelled into meeting social and environmental challenges. However we also recognise that not all actors share this view and that in extreme cases, force may be required.
PSD 200 Principles - we need to decide whether to include this section in the DVP and if so, what to include.
PSD 210 Aims of Policy
PSD301 Policies will be prioritised that will actively promote peaceful relations between the diverse societies of the world. Where it is possible, potential rivals will be drawn into common security frameworks that enhance all parties’ security. Where this is not possible, we will always promise a proportional response to hostile acts.
PSD302 UK embassy staff will be given greater resources and training to enhance diplomacy and the building of positive relations with their host countries based on trust, mutual respect and understanding.
PSD303 We will advocate for the UN to provide significant support for building effective law and order systems that support democratic elections and counter corruption. To these ends the Green Party advocates the UN having power to enable resolutions to be implemented and for the UK to use its diplomatic service to to collect evidence for violations or breaches of UN resolutions to submit to the UN
PSD304 The Green Party is wholly committed to the Geneva Conventions and Geneva Protocol, and to the principle of rules-based conflict. In particular, we abhor the use of torture, extraordinary rendition, chemical and biological weapons, and sexual violence as a weapon of war. The Green Party will never sanction any of these, and will seek international cooperation on ending their practices.
PSD 305 The Green Party supports full implementation of UN Security resolution 1325, calling for greater involvement for women in conflict resolution and post-conflict peace building.The Green Party will press for the full implementation of UN Security Council resolutions 1820, 1888 and 1889 which recognise the use of rape as a weapon of war as a war crime and a crime against humanity and call for the special training for peacekeepers in protecting women and girls in conflict situations.
PSD 306 The Green Party opposes any domestic legislation designed to limit the prosecution of UK military personnel, government ministers or officials for breaches of international humanitarian law.
PSD310 The Green Party recognises that Treaties and Alliances freely entered into form an important element in international relations. Where these arrangements are designed to build trust and cohesion they will be supported. Where we see that they undermine peaceful coexistence we will initiate a process of review with treaty and alliance partners.
PSD311 The Green Party regrets that the UK no longer has a place at discussions of defence and security policy in the EU. We maintain our vision of the EU as playing an important role in the maintenance of peace within Europe and acknowledge its diplomatic peace-keeping functions across the world.
PSD312 The Green Party recognises the need to develop and enhance the status of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe [OSCE] to render it more effective in achieving the implementation of the 1975 Helsinki Accords. We welcome the OSCE’s broader view of the concept of common security, the aim of which is to prevent and solve conflicts by addressing the underlying causes
PSD313 The Green Party supports the OSCE’s emphasis on arms control and disarmament and the provision of mutual rights of inspection into other countries’ security affairs, demonstrating the value of openness and transparency in building mutual confidence.
PSD314 The Green Party supports the founding principles of the United Nations and will use these principles of international cooperation and peaceful conflict resolution to guide its policies.
PSD315 We note the UN’s founding principle of the sovereign equality of all its members, so we therefore do not support the current structure of the Security Council with its permanent members having the power of veto. All permanent seats on the UN Security Council should be abolished, allowing all nations to take a seat in turn and decisions should be made by a 2/3 majority. Until such a reform can be achieved, we support a veto in the Security Council being overridden by a 2/3 majority of the General Assembly
PSD316 Because of the UK’s extensive contacts with Commonwealth countries and previous involvement in UN peacekeeping operations, Britain is well placed to assist in an international training programme on behalf of the UN, as well as to supply personnel and equipment.
PSD317 The Green Party recognises that NATO is the underlying guarantor of freedom from invasion for its member states. The Green Party supports the principle of international solidarity, whereby militarily stronger nations such as the UK help support weaker ones from aggression through mutual defence alliances.
PSD318 We support the development of the diplomatic activities of NATO with non-member countries to improve the likelihood of long term peace, particularly in potential areas of conflict. Dialogue, diplomacy and practical cooperation must always take precedence over military action..
PSD319 The Green Party would seek the following reforms to NATO. Other alliances may be entered into should such reforms become unattainable:
PSD330 The Green Party supports the continuation and extension of the Antarctic Treaty, and the continued prohibition on any form of military activities on the continent.
PSD 331 The Green Party recognises the importance of regulating outer space. We would work to save and strengthen the Outer Space Treaty and reinstate the concept of space as a peaceful and neutral province for all humankind.
PSD 332 We will work with other countries to clean up orbital debris and pass international treaties prohibiting the intentional destruction of satellites, except by deorbiting them into unpopulated areas as is current standard best practice.
PSD340 The Green Party is committed to the early conversion of economic, scientific and technological resources presently used to support the arms race, to socially useful and productive ends. This policy of military conversion will aim to protect employment and local economies and provide needed expertise in underfunded areas such as responses to climate change.
PSD 400 The Green Party defines terrorism as the use or threat of violence, both in and outside of the UK, designed to influence and intimidate any government and the citizens of that country, for the purpose of advancing a political, religious, racial or ideological cause.
PSD401 The Green Party accepts the need for the UK to defend its people against those who seek to use terror and violence against us. Measures to protect society should not undermine the fundamental values that shape a green society: inclusion, justice and equality.
PD402 Police and intelligence investigations of terrorist activity need to be well resourced, and given sufficient freedom to ensure their safety and efficacy. They must be carried out in an accountable way, and remain within the law.
PD403 Those accused or found guilty of atrocities, or planning to commit, aid or abet in their execution, should be dealt with under the same principles as those accused of more conventional criminal activities. In particular, those accused of supporting terrorist acts should have normal rights against arbitrary arrest or imprisonment. It should not be a crime simply to have sympathy with the aims of an organisation, though it should be a crime to aid and abet criminal acts or to deliberately fund such acts
PSD404 The Green Party supports the inclusion of crimes of terrorism in the mandate of the International Criminal Court, and in the meantime the use of ad hoc courts under UN auspices, on neutral territory but under the law of the country in which the crime was committed.
PSD405 The Green Party accepts the need for deradicalisation programmes to counter the appeal of terrorist groups. Such programmes must be developed in close cooperation with diverse community groups aiming to build, not erode, trust within civil society.
PSD406 The Green Party abhors the prospect of cyber-terrorism and will invest in state-of-the-art cyber-defences for all state institutions.
PSD407 The Green Party accepts that Military intelligence plays a crucial role in building rational and informed decisions over the acquisition and use of military resources. No domestic surveillance of ordinary citizens may be justified as military surveillance. All domestic intelligence must be duly constrained by law and by the customary democratic rights of our country
PSD408 The Green Party will ensure that the British military and intelligence services are equipped to properly defend against cyber-attacks. The Green Party acknowledges that using cyber-warfare offensively may sometimes be necessary, but will never carry out attacks on critical infrastructure, the failing of which would endanger life. This includes power, environmental stability and healthcare related infrastructures.
PSD 409 Military expenditure will be reprioritised to give the military the ability to assist people affected by impacts arising from climate-related disasters and conflicts both in the UK and abroad;
PSD500 The Green Party supports the reprioritisation of defence and security budgets to better combat the real and present threats we face as a result of the Climate and Ecological emergency.
PSD501 The Green Party notes that it is now self-evident that human conflict over the years has always led to environmental damage alongside the human suffering resulting from it. In addition, military complexes, exercises and industry contribute significantly to the country’s carbon footprint. To bring defence and security policy in line with our overriding policy to develop an ecologically sustainable society, policies of reduction of the impact of military activity, including its carbon emissions, will be adopted.
PSD502 The size of the permanent military force should be appropriate to the threats faced by the UK. Functions for military personnel would include but not be limited to supporting roles in a time of natural crisis, policing fishing quotas, piracy and oceanic environmental regulations. Expertise of the UK military in disaster support will be properly resources and be offered for UN operations and used in the training of civilian volunteers.
PSD503 The minimum age of recruitment to the Armed Forces should be 18 years or older.
PSD504 We would reform the reserves to become a body of both civilian and military volunteers, willing to contribute their services in times of domestic or international crisis.
PD505 Reducing the size of the military estate and in particular working for a reduction in the number of highly sensitive sites will reduce the current significant cost incurred by the military for protecting these sites.
PSD506 Greens believe in the importance of respecting and looking after former service personnel, giving them decent living standards and support, and to their dependents in the event of their being killed. We would provide greater support to people who have served in overseas wars prior to these reforms, to help them manage the trauma of their experiences.
PSD510 The Green Party does not accept that Military intervention for peacekeeping or conflict prevention can be justified unilaterally. Intervention would only be justified with 2/3 approval of the General Assembly of the United Nations.
PD511 Any military intervention must be under the auspices of the United Nations, or if within Europe, under the OSCE. Intervention operations must have a clearly articulated end-state mutually agreed by both Parliament and the Chiefs of Staff Committee.
PSD520 The Green Party is committed to the United Nations Nuclear non-Proliferation Treaty that came into force in 1970. It is Green Party policy to abide by international law and work to ensure that other countries do the same.
PSD521 The Green Party believes that the use of nuclear weapons would be contrary to International humanitarian law. We therefore reject a deterrence strategy that is based on the threat of indiscriminate destruction of civilian population and infrastructure in other countries as contrary to the laws governing armed conflict.
PSD522 The Green Party notes the risks of miscalculation, misappropriation or malfunction inherent in producing and maintaining nuclear weapons. The Green Party will work with all willing partners globally to progressively limit production capabilities for such weapons, and to collectively decommission existing stockpiles.
PSD523 The Green Party believes that the UK should join the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) which came into force in January 2021. In so doing the UK would join the majority of countries in committing to work to remove the threat of nuclear war. Following this action the UK would begin the process of dismantling our nuclear weapons, removing any foreign nuclear weapons from our soil, ban the export of nuclear weapons related material, ban nuclear armed ships from UK territorial waters, and open the country to the appropriate international inspection agencies.
PSD524 The Green Party supports the ICAN (International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons) Cities Appeal for a Nuclear Ban, and Green Councillors will advocate for their city or borough to support the appeal, and to divest council funds from nuclear weapons.
PSD525 The Green Party totally rejects any form of weather modification or environmental modification as a weapon, which is banned under the Environmental Modification Convention of 1978
PSD530 The production of military material by the UK should be limited to its own defensive needs and for treaty obligations. Where this makes our arms industry not economically viable on its own, the industry will be taken under public control.
PSD531 Sales of military equipment to other countries will be tightly controlled by a stricter licensing system involving the Foreign Office, Ministry of Defence, Department for International Development, and Revenue and Customs. Equipment exported will be of a defensive nature only, or strictly and verifiably for use in international campaigns sanctioned by the UN or its regional organisation. Such a licensing system will take proper account of social sustainability criteria, human rights and regional stability issues. There will be a presumption against supply unless an export fulfils all criteria.
PSD532 In line with policy PSD530, the Green Party supports the end of all subsidies to arms exports, closing the Government’s arms export agency: Defence and Security Organisation (DSO) within the Department for International Trade (DIT) and UK Export Finance (UKEF)
PSD53 We will promote the control and reduction of arms transfers internationally. We will press for the extension of the UN Register of Arms Transfers to include production and stocks, and to significantly extend the number of categories in the interests of greater transparency. We will advocate the setting up of an inspectorate associated with the Register that is independent of the major powers.
Finance: not yet available.