Global Peace & Security

Congresswoman Barbara Lee’s willingness to stand on principle and her balanced approach to security priorities have earned her recognition as a leader in promoting global peace and security through proactive efforts to reduce real threats and alleviate conditions that produce conflict.

While Congresswoman Lee has received international recognition for being an outspoken critic of the war in Iraq, she has also been a dedicated advocate for redirecting funding towards our real security priorities. She opposes wasteful spending and has worked to cut funds for the destabilizing missile defense system and to increase funding for programs to protect our nation’s ports and to keep nuclear materials out of the hands of terrorists.

Congresswoman Lee is the most senior Democratic woman on the House International Relations Committee, and she has a deep belief in the power of diplomacy. She authored legislation to disavow the Bush administration’s doctrine of preemption, and when Congress was debating authorizing the use of force against Iraq, she introduced a substitute measure to make sure that inspections and diplomatic options were exhausted before considering invasion. She is also a cosponsor of legislation to create a cabinet level Department of Peace.

As a member of the Human Rights Caucus, Congresswoman Lee has long been a champion of human rights and democracy. She has traveled to Sudan to visit refugees displaced by the genocide in Darfur and has been a leading voice in the movement to divest US pension funds from companies doing business in Sudan. She has also fought for an investigation into the US role in the coup d’etat that removed the democratically elected President of Haiti, Jean Bertrand Aristide.