Home › Africa › G - L ›

Gabon

in

Article Tools

Gabonese Republic
Population: 
1.4 million (651,000 under 18)
Government Armed Forces: 
4,700
Compulsary Recruitment Age: 
no conscription
Voluntary Recruitment Age: 
20
Voting Age: 
21 (1)
Optional Protocol: 
signed 8 September 2000
Other Treaties: 
GC AP I
GC AP II
CRC
ILO 182
ACRWC
ICC

There were no reports of under-18s in the government security forces.

Government: 

National recruitment legislation and practice

The Gabonese constitution stated that it was the duty of every citizen to defend the country. The state security forces defended the nation and safeguarded public order, and the creation of private militias was forbidden.2

There was no conscription into the armed forces.3 Under Act No. 004/98 of February 1998 on the general organization of national defence and public security, the minimum age for voluntary recruitment was 20.

Developments: 

International standards

Gabon ratified the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child in 2007.

1 Source: Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU). The Gabonese constitution, however, gives the voting age as 18 (Article 4).

2 Article 1(21) and (22).

3 Initial report of Gabon to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, UN Doc. CRC/C/41/Add.10, 13 July 2001.