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Child Soldiers Global Report 2001 - Guyana

REPUBLIC OF GUYANA

Mainly covers the period June 1998 to April 2001 as well as including some earlier information.

• Population:
  – total: 855,000
  – under-18s: 311,000
• Government armed forces:
  – active: 1,600
  – reserves: 1,500
• Compulsory recruitment age: no conscription
• Voluntary recruitment age: unknown
• Voting age (government elections): 18
• Child soldiers: unknown
• CRC-OP-CAC: not signed
• Other treaties ratified: CRC; GC/API+II; ILO 138; ILO 182

• It is not known if there are under-18s in government armed forces due to lack of information on minimum recruitment age.

CONTEXT

Social unrest followed elections in December 1997. In July 1998, political leaders, signed a "peace agreement" to end the violent protests. long-standing ethnic tensions, primarily between citizens of African descent and those of South Asian origin, have continued to polarise the society and political life.⁸⁰⁶

GOVERNMENT

National Recruitment Legislation and Practice

The Guyana Defence Force (GDF) is recruited on a voluntary basis only. No information on the minimum age of recruitment is available. There are two militias currently operating in the country: the Guyana National Service (GNS) and the Guyana People's Militia (GPM). These paramilitary forces have a combined strength of approximately 3,000. The GNS is a voluntary organisation with limited military potential, which was created in 1973 in order to provide the government with a manpower source for public works and services. The militia is divided into various corps for young people from ages eight to twenty-five and composed of members of the Afro-Guyanese ethnic group.⁸⁰⁷ The GPM was created in 1976 during a period of heightened tension along the Guyana-Venezuela border. This corps was envisioned as a more ethnically diverse force than the GDF. The government agreed to form the People's Militia, but only as a supplementary security force, to assist regular forces in times of emergency.⁸⁰⁸

Both police and armed forces are mainly staffed by Afro-Guyanese.⁸⁰⁹ The low percentages of Indo-Guyanese in the police and GDF is partly due to the low pay and status, but also as a result of the marginalisation of the Indo-Guyanese community.⁸¹⁰ Recent recruitment efforts targeted at the Indo-Guyanese community generally have met with unenthusiastic response, with most qualified Indo-Guyanese candidates opting for a business or professional career over military, police, or public service.⁸¹¹

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806 http://www.amnestyusa.org/ailib/aireport/ar99/amr35.htm, AI/USA.

807 Centre on Conscience & War op. cit.; also http//www.bharat-rakshak.com/monitor/ISSUE3-2/sanay.html, Bharat Rakshak, The consortium of Indian Military Websites.

808 US Library of The Congress op. cit.

809 US Department of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices 2000 – Guyana; also Bharat Rakshak op. cit.

810 Bharat Rakshak op. cit.

811 US Department of State op. cit.; also www.bharat-rakshak.com/monitor/ISSUE3-2/sanjay.html.

Topics: Paramilitary forces, Child soldiers, Military service,