Vanuatu This State Department web site is a permanent electronic archive of information released prior to January 20, 2001. Please see the current site for material released since that date. Contact us with any questions about finding information. U.S. Department of State Vanuatu Country Report on Human Rights Practices for 1997 Released by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, January 30, 1998. The latter's powers are largely ceremonial, except when acting on the advice of the Council of Ministers.
Political legitimacy is based on majority rule.
The courts are normally independent of executive interference. Seven of them were dismissed from the VMF by the Police Service Commission. The Government accepted recommendations placing the VMF more firmly under the operational control of the Police Commissioner. Subsistence and small-scale agricultural production and fishing support more than 80 percent of the population. Copra, cocoa, and beef cattle are the main cash crops.