Military service age and obligation: 18 years of age for voluntary military service; laws allow for conscription only if volunteers are insufficient; conscription has never been implemented; volunteers typically outnumber available positions by 3:1 (2001)
Manpower available for military service:
males age 18-49: 61,201
females age 18-49: 60,048 (2005 est.)
Manpower fit for military service:
males age 18-49: 44,238
females age 18-49: 43,633 (2005 est.)
Manpower reaching military service age annually:
males age 18-49: 3,213
females age 18-49: 3,100 (2005 est.)
Military expenditures - dollar figure:
$19 million (2005 est.)
Military expenditures - percent of GDP:
1.7% (2005 est.)
Transnational Issues Belize
Disputes - international:
Guatemalan squatters continue to settle in the largely uninhabited
rain forests of Belize's border region; OAS seeks to revive the 2002
failed Belize-Guatemala Differendum that created a small adjustment
to land boundary, a Guatemalan maritime corridor in Caribbean, joint
ecological park for disputed Sapodilla Cays, and substantial US-UK
financial package
Trafficking in persons:
current situation: Belize is a source, transit, and destination
country for men, women, and children trafficked for the purposes of
labor and sexual exploitation; women and girls are trafficked mainly
from Central America, and exploited in prostitution; children are
trafficked to Belize for labor exploitation; Belize's largely
unmonitored borders with Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico facilitate
the movement of illegal migrants who are vulnerable to traffickers;
girls are trafficked within the country for sexual exploitation,
sometimes with the consent and complicity of their close relatives;
there are unconfirmed reports that Indian and Chinese migrants are
trafficked for involuntary servitude in homes and shops
tier rating: Tier 3 - Belize has failed to show evidence of
significant law enforcement or victim protection efforts
Illicit drugs:
transshipment point for cocaine; small-scale illicit producer of
cannabis for the international drug trade; money-laundering activity
related to narcotics trafficking and offshore sector