Child Soldiers Global Report 2004 - Tuvalu and Vanuatu
| Publisher | Child Soldiers International |
| Publication Date | 2004 |
| Cite as | Child Soldiers International, Child Soldiers Global Report 2004 - Tuvalu and Vanuatu, 2004, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/4988062032.html [accessed 4 June 2023] |
| Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
Covers the period from April 2001 to March 2004.
Population: 206,00016 (aggregate)
Government armed forces: no armed forces
Compulsory recruitment age: not applicable
Voluntary recruitment age: not applicable
Voting age (government elections): 18
Optional Protocol: not signed
Other treaties ratified (see glossary): Tuvalu: CRC Vanuatu: CRC, GC AP I and II
No armed forces are maintained by the governments of Tuvalu or Vanuatu. There were no reports of under-18s in the security or paramilitary forces in Vanuatu.
Government
National recruitment legislation and practice
There are no regular military forces in Vanuatu, and no conscription to the other security forces.17 The Vanuatu Mobile Forces, which supplements the Vanuatu Police Force, is a paramilitary unit of about 250 men.18 The Mobile Forces were reported to have developed from a riot squad into virtually a small army, and were involved in an armed confrontation with the police in late August 2002 in a dispute over the appointment of the Police Commissioner.19
Police officers have taken part in the Peace Monitoring Group deployed to Bougainville since 1998 and in the International Peace Monitoring Team in the Solomon Islands since it was established by the Townsville Peace Agreement of October 2000.20
There are no regular military forces in Tuvalu.21
16 The Statesman's Yearbook 2004, op. cit.
17 CIA World Factbook, op. cit; Civil and political rights, including the question of conscientious objection to military service, Report of the UN Secretary-General to UN Commission on Human Rights, UN Doc. E/CN.4/2000/55, 17 December 1999, http://www.ohchr.org.
18 Philip Alpers and Conor Twyford, Small Arms in the Pacific, Occasional Paper No. 8, Small Arms Survey, March 2003, http://www.smallarmssurvey.org (Publications).
19 Robert Keith-Reid, "Solving differences via the traditional means: How a few pigs helped avert a coup", Pacific Magazine, October 2002, http://www.pacificmagazine.net; Sydney Morning Herald, "PM hides as island police turn on their chiefs", 28 August 2002, http://www.smh.com. au.
20 Philip Alpers and Conor Twyford, op. cit.; Global IDP Database, Profile of Internal Displacement: Solomon Islands, 18 March 2004, http://www.idpproject.org.
21 CIA World Factbook, op. cit.
