U.N. Expert Lists Armed Groups That Recruit Children

GENEVA -- A United Nations human rights expert has released a list of armed groups and governments she says recruit children or target them during conflict.

The list in a report by U.N. Special Representative for children and armed conflict Radhika Coomaraswamy contains 61 groups or governments in 16 countries.

They include insurgent groups, such as the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in the Philippines and al-Shabab militia in Somalia, and also the Afghan National Police.

Coomaraswamy told reporters in Geneva on Tuesday that some groups and governments -- including that of Afghanistan -- had agreed to stamp out the practice of recruiting child soldiers.

She says the U.N. took charge of some 10,000 child soldiers last year.