Country Reports on Terrorism 2008 - Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu

Pacific Island nations, in general, are at a crossroads in development which has left a large, younger generation with fewer options for education and employment than is required for healthy growth. Without sustained social and economic development the growing youth population could be more vulnerable to extremist influences. None of these countries' governments maintained strong counterterrorism or intelligence gathering programs and therefore might be unable to detect highly organized and trained terrorists in their territories, nor have they taken any type of specific, proactive action to detect, disrupt, or deter terrorist activity.