Military service age and obligation:
18 years of age (2004)
Manpower available for military service:
Greek Cyriot National Guard (GCNG):
males age 18-49: 184,352
females age 18-49: 175,567 (2005 est.)
Manpower fit for military service:
Greek Cyriot National Guard (GCNG):
males age 18-49: 150,750
females age 18-49: 144,344 (2005 est.)
Manpower reaching military service age annually:
Greek Cyriot National Guard (GCNG):
males age 18-49: 6,578
females age 18-49: 6,200 (2005 est.)
Military expenditures - dollar figure:
$384 million (FY02)
Military expenditures - percent of GDP:
3.8% (FY02)
Transnational Issues Cyprus
Disputes - international:
hostilities in 1974 divided the island into two de facto autonomous
entities, the internationally recognized Cypriot Government and a
Turkish-Cypriot community (north Cyprus); the 1,000-strong UN
Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) has served in Cyprus since
1964 and maintains the buffer zone between north and south; March
2003 reunification talks failed, but Turkish-Cypriots later opened
their borders to temporary visits by Greek Cypriots; on 24 April
2004, the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities voted in
simultaneous and parallel referenda on whether to approve the
UN-brokered Annan Plan that would have ended the 30-year division of
the island by establishing a new "United Cyprus Republic," a
majority of Greek Cypriots voted "no"; on 1 May 2004, Cyprus entered
the European Union still divided, with the EU's body of legislation
and standards (acquis communitaire) suspended in the north
Refugees and internally displaced persons:
IDPs: 210,000 (both Turkish and Greek Cypriots; many displaced for
over 30 years) (2006)
Trafficking in persons:
current situation: Cyprus is primarily a destination country for a
large number of women trafficked from Eastern and Central Europe,
the Philippines, and the Dominican Republic for the purpose of
sexual exploitation; traffickers continued to fraudulently recruit
victims for work as dancers in cabarets and nightclubs on short-term
"artiste" visas, for work in pubs and bars on employment visas, or
for illegal work on tourist or student visas; there were credible
reports of female domestic workers from India, Sri Lanka, and the
Philippines forced to work excessively long hours and denied proper
compensation
tier rating: Tier 2 Watch List - Cyprus does not fully comply with
the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and failed
to show evidence of increasing efforts to address its serious
trafficking for sexual exploitation problem; however, it is making
significant efforts to do so