ly by small craft) (2005)

Merchant marine:
total: 285 ships (1000 GRT or over) 985,464 GRT/1,322,629 DWT
by type: bulk carrier 36, cargo 203, chemical tanker 7, container 4,
passenger/cargo 3, petroleum tanker 13, refrigerated cargo 12, roll
on/roll off 6, specialized tanker 1
foreign-owned: 225 (China 103, Croatia 1, Cyprus 2, Estonia 3,
Germany 3, Greece 2, Hong Kong 8, Iceland 2, Indonesia 2, Italy 4,
Japan 2, North Korea 2, South Korea 4, Latvia 6, Lithuania 1,
Malaysia 1, Mexico 1, Norway 2, Poland 2, Russia 36, Singapore 6,
Spain 3, Switzerland 1, Turkey 11, UAE 5, Ukraine 7, US 5) (2006)

Ports and terminals:
Belize City

Military Belize

Military branches:
Belize Defense Force (BDF): Army, Maritime Wing, Air Wing, and
Volunteer Guard

Military service age and obligation:
18 years of age for voluntary military service; laws allow for
conscription only if volunteers are insufficient; conscription has
never been implemented; volunteers typically outnumber available
positions by 3:1 (2001)

Manpower available for military service:
males age 18-49: 61,201
females age 18-49: 60,048 (2005 est.)

Manpower fit for military service:
males age 18-49: 44,238
females age 18-49: 43,633 (2005 est.)

Manpower reaching military service age annually:
males age 18-49: 3,213
females age 18-49: 3,100 (2005 est.)

Military expenditures - dollar figure:
$19 million (2005 est.)

Military expenditures - percent of GDP:
1.7% (2005 est.)

Transnational Issues Belize

Disputes - international:
Guatemalan squatters continue to settle in the largely uninhabited
rain forests of Belize's border region; OAS seeks to revive the 2002
failed Belize-Guatemala Differendum that created a small adjustment
to land boundary, a Guatemalan maritime corridor in Caribbean, joint
ecological park for disputed Sapodilla Cays, and substantial US-UK
financial package

Trafficking in persons:
current situation: Belize is a source, transit, and destination
country for men, women, and children trafficked for the purposes of
labor and sexual exploitation; women and girls are trafficked mainly
from Central America, and exploited in prostitution; children are
trafficked to Belize for labor exploitation; Belize's largely
unmonitored borders with Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico facilitate
the movement of illegal migrants who are vulnerable to traffickers;
girls ar