UNITED NATIONS -- A soon-to-be released United Nations report on armies that use child soldiers fails to name the world's top three offenders, according to a coalition of groups that released its own report on the issue Wednesday.

The U.N. report, prepared by Secretary-General Kofi Annan and scheduled to be discussed by the Security Council on Nov. 20, focuses instead on the use of child soldiers in Africa, says a coalition member who has seen the report.

Last year the Security Council adopted a resolution asking Annan to compile a first-ever list of governments and non-state armed groups that are using children in war.

But some of the countries with the most severe child soldier problems, such as Myanmar, Colombia and Sri Lanka, are not included in Annan's report, says Casey Kelso, coordinator of the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers.

The coalition's own report lists 72 parties to armed conflicts that continue to use children in war and more than 25 others who have recruited children in the past.

''We welcome the Security Council's initiative to review parties recruiting and using child soldiers,'' Kelso told IPS. ''But grave situations of children being pressed into the frontlines of war may escape international scrutiny if ignored by the Security Council.''

''This is not simply an African problem but takes place in Asia, Latin America and elsewhere,'' he added.

The coalition reports that despite efforts by the United Nations to stop the abuse of children in war, scores of armed rebel groups and even U.N. member states in Asia, Africa, Latin America and Europe continue to recruit and deploy child soldiers.

''These boys and girls are being used in defiance of international standards,'' said Kelso.

The ''name and shame'' list was compiled after extensive research covering more than 180 countries and territories during 1999 and September 2002, says the coalition.

Last week the U.N. Children's Fund (UNICEF) said that up to one-fourth of the world's 300,000 child soldiers are serving in the East Asia and Pacific region.

UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy said the use of children as soldiers by governments and non-state armies should be recognised ''as an illegal and morally reprehensible practice that has no place in civilised societies''.

The coalition study describes Myanmar (formerly Burma) as the world's largest single user of child soldiers, estimated at more than 70,000. ''Children as young as eleven are forcibly recruited into Myanmar's national army,'' Kelso said.

Ranking behind Myanmar is Colombia, which has an estimated 6,000 to 14,000 child soldiers. Boys and girls as young as eight years old are recruited into armed groups, para-militaries and militias, the report says.

In Sri Lanka, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), which has been battling a separatist war in the north-east, ''has a long record of using child soldiers as well as a record of breaking commitments to end their recruitment and use''.

The LTTE made the commitments to Olara Otunnu, U.N. special representative for children and armed conflict, during his visit to Sri Lanka two years ago.

Other countries where child soldiers are deployed either by governments or armed groups include: Afghanistan, Angola, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Israel and the Palestinian Occupied Territories, Liberia, Nepal, Pakistan, Russia, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Uganda and the former Yugoslavia.

The coalition, which includes Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, Defence for Children International, the Quaker United Nations Office and the International Save the Children Alliance, is urging the 15-member U.N. Security Council to make field visits ''to the gravest situations threatening children''.

It says it is disappointed that Annan's report lists fewer situations where governments or armed groups are using child soldiers. Most of them, said Kelso, involve African countries.

The 1990 U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) set the legal minimum age for recruitment at 15. But an 'Optional Protocol' to the CRC, which came into force in February this year, outlaws the involvement of children under 18 in any hostilities and sets strict standards for the recruitment of those under 18.

Bellamy said member states ratifying the Optional Protocol ''is a crucial first step in ending the recruitment of children for armed conflict and their use as soldiers''.

Under the Protocol, governments are also charged with ensuring the rehabilitation and reintegration of child soldiers, as well as protecting, not punishing, them.

Last week UNICEF also released a new study, Adult Wars, Child Soldiers: Voice of Children Involved in Armed Conflict in the East Asia and Pacific Region. It said that research ''has clearly shown that thousands of children are still being recruited - often by force - into state and non-state armies in the region''.

''It is time for all parties to acknowledge this and work together with UNICEF and other organisations to bring an end to this profound abuse of children's rights,'' UNICEF said.

Copyright 2002 IPS

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