Disarmament

Green values emphasize the sanctity of life and the peaceful resolution of conflicts. Disarmament isn't just a desirable end result of these goals, it is also an important step toward attaining them.

Even though the cold war “officially” ended in 1991, the U.S. level of armament still grossly exceeds any reasonable estimate of what we need for national defense. These weapons' destructive capacity, if used, would guarantee an unimaginably horrific toll on human life and environmental damage that would affect many generations to come. When the USSR dissolved as a single sovereign entity, the rationale justifying these weapons of mass destruction became obsolete. However, both the U.S. and Russia, the major nation that remains of the former Soviet Union, have been joined by other countries in a new overt and covert arms race. To date, the U.S. has conducted over 1,000 nuclear weapons tests, more than the other known nuclear-capable nations combined. Through its “Stockpile Stewardship” program, the U.S. has continued to upgrade and expand its nuclear weapons capacity.

The continuing propensity for war and the huge international arms market have resulted in increased global conflicts causing the collapse of countries to where they cannot provide for the basic needs of their citizens. The resulting emigration of desperate people to neighboring countries can trigger ethnic, social and religious conflicts, as well as strains on the resources of those neighbors. All of this perpetuates a general global instability that easily leads to further armed conflict.

Our continuing reliance on military solutions is reflected in the number of international agreements the U.S. government has refused to sign or failed to ratify. This not only includes agreements designed to reduce weapons, but also those aimed at improving the general human conditions. The list of unsigned or unratified agreements includes: Convention on the Prohibition of Anti-Personnel Mines; Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty; Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty II; Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty II; Kyoto Accord; Convention on the Rights of Children; Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women; the Treaty of Basel; and the Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights.

The Green Party advocates progress towards disarmament by the following means:

  • Stop the research, development, testing and deployment of offensive weapons of mass destruction - especially high energy, nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons - and only pursue weapons production based on a realistic assessment of our national defense needs.
  • Enact a unilateral reduction and dismantling of our current armaments stockpiles, end the U.S. Stockpile Stewardship program, and immediately ban international arms sales or exchange of nuclear technologies and materials.
  • Set up a multi-level international peacekeeping force consisting of citizen groups and the U.N. to initiate international cooperation in the resolution of conflicts to prevent them from escalating into warfare.
  • Prevent conflicts and promote stability by joining the rest of the world in signing, ratifying and enforcing the international agreements that enable and support disarmament.
  • Achieve nuclear abolition by complying with and enforcing the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Article VI of this treaty mandates the elimination of nuclear weapons through a treaty on "general and complete disarmament... under international control."
  • Encourage states, local communities and other countries to establish legally binding nuclear-free zones.
  • Expand talks and agreements with Russia and other countries that possess weapons of mass destruction to account for, and eliminate, their stockpiles of weapons; to account for and document their stockpiles of delivery systems for warheads and to justify any peaceful uses of these delivery systems, for example, the number and type of rockets to launch communication and weather satellites or to explore space.
  • Establish international laws and court proceedings which enable all people to both sue and criminally prosecute arms manufacturers for the harm and damage that their products create.
  • Establish standard education and training of all children and adults, in methods of nonviolent communication and nonviolent conflict resolution.
  • Establish the work and programs necessary (including the phasing out of capitalism in the 21st century) to eliminate wealth disparities and fully meet the physical and economic needs of all human beings on Earth in order to reduce stressors that lead to conflict.

(Amended and approved by the GPCA online General Assembly on October 21, 2023)