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

  • Population:
    – total: 269,000
    – under-18s: 71,000
  • Government armed forces:
    – active: 610
    – reserve: 430
  • Compulsory recruitment age: no conscription
  • Voluntary recruitment age: 18 with parental consent
  • Child Soldiers: indicated
  • Other treaties ratified: GC/API+II GC; CRC;
  • There are indications of under-18s in the Barbados armed forces as volunteers under 18 are accepted with parental consent.

GOVERNMENT

National Recruitment Legislation and Practice

In Barbados security forces consist of a police force and a small defence force. The police are generally organised and supervised according to British law enforcement practices.194 There is no system of conscription into security forces, therefore recruitment is on a voluntary basis only.195

Barbados has the largest security force of all Caribbean countries, with an approximately 1,200-strong police force, responsible for maintaining law and order, and a 610-strong Barbados Defence Force (BDF), which can be employed to maintain public order in times of crisis, emergency, or other specific needs. According to the Barbados Defence Act, the minimum age for voluntary recruitment into the armed forces is 18 years. But according to section 19 (2) of the Defence Act a recruitment officer can enlist a person under the age of 18 years in the regular forces where "consent to the enlistment has been given in writing by a parent or person in whose care the young person is held ".196

194 Library of the US Congress op. cit.

195 Radda Barnen (Swedish Save the Children) Website.

196 Human Rights Internet Website, www.hri.ca.

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