India Greens Party understands peace as being more than the absence of war. To strive for peace has always been at the core of the Green agenda. The causes of conflict are changing. The impacts of climate change, competition for water, food and resources will become increasingly significant. The distinctions between war, organised crime and deliberate large-scale abuses of human rights are becoming progressively blurred. Since 2001 the ‘war on ‘terror’ has also led to the erosion of human rights in the name of security. The arms trade is growing and globalising, nourished by a unique exemption from WTO rules against subsidies. As a global network, we have a vital role to play in strengthening the links between community organisations working for human rights and peace, and supporting and shaping the emerging concepts and institutions of global governance. Therefore, India Greens Party shall:
- support strengthening the role of the UN as a global organisation of conflict management and peacekeeping, while, noting that, where prevention fails and in situations of structural and massive violations of human rights and/or genocide, the use of force may be justified if it is the only means of preventing further human rights violations and suffering, provided that it is used under a mandate from the UN. Nonetheless, individual countries have the right not to support or to cooperate with the action.
- campaign for greater power for countries of the South in the UN, by working to abolish the veto power in the Security Council, to remove the category of permanent membership of it, and to increase the number of states with membership.
- support the International Criminal Court. In war crimes, sexualised violence such as mass rape should be regarded as a war crime, as should environmental crimes in times of conflict.
- seek to curtail the power of the military-industrial-financial complex in order to radically reduce the trade in armaments, ensure transparency of manufacturing and remove hidden subsidies that benefit the military industries.
- work to regulate and reduce, with the long term aim of eliminating, the international arms trade (including banning nuclear, biological and chemical arms, depleted uranium weapons and anti-personnel mines) and bring it within the ambit of the UN.
- help strengthen existing peace programs and forge new programmes that address all aspects of building a culture of peace. Programmes will include analysis of the roots of violence, including inter-familial violence, and the issue of mutual respect between genders; and support training in non-violent conflict resolution at all levels.
- seek to amend the international rules of military engagement to ensure that natural resources are adequately protected in conflicts.
- fight against missile defence projects, and work towards the demilitarisation and denuclearisation of space.
