Population: 329,000 (158,000 under 18)
Government Armed Forces: not known
Compulsary Recruitment Age: no conscription
Voluntary Recruitment Age: 18
Voting Age: 18 1
Optional Protocol: ratified 29 December 2004
Other Treaties: GC AP I, GC AP II, CRC


The minimum age of recruitment to the reorganized defence forces was 18.

Government:

National recruitment legislation and practice

In April 2006 the National Security Service (NSS) was reorganized and renamed as the Maldivian National Defence Force (MNDF). It was also redefined as a self-defence force rather than a paramilitary force as hitherto.2 A separate police force had been formed under the Home Ministry in 2004, to differentiate the military duties of the NSS from what had been its domestic law enforcement duties. According to the MNDF website, the age range for recruitment to the force was 18 to 28.3 There was no conscription.

Military training and military schools

The Defence Institute for Training and Education was the officiating unit of the MNDF responsible for training.4

Developments:

International standards

The Optional Protocol was ratified in December 2004. In its declaration, the government confirmed that the minimum age for recruitment to the National Security Service and Police was 18 and that all applicants were required to present proof of a birth date.5 In its Initial Report on the Optional Protocol to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child the government stated that the ages of applicants to the armed forces were verified through the national registration card and birth registration. The report also stated that Law No. 9/91, Law on the Protection of the Rights of the Child, was amended in November 2002 to raise the age for recruitment into the armed forces from 16 to 18 years.6


1 Maldives High Commission, "Modest presence to monitor referendum", News, 1 August 2007, www.maldiveshighcommission.org.

2 Maldives National Defence Force, www.mndf.gov.mv.

3 Maldives National Defence Force, above note 2, Recruitment.

4 Maldives National Defence Force, above note 2.

5 Maldives declaration on accession to the Optional Protocol, www2.ohchr.org.

6 Initial reports of States parties due in 2007, Maldives, UN Doc. CRC/OPAC/MDV/1, 23 October 2007.

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