(Reuters) - Syrian rebels fighting to oust President Bashar al-Assad
have been accused of using children as fighters in violation of
international conventions banning the recruitment of child soldiers,
a senior U.N. official said on Monday.
The U.N. concern about the possibility that Syria´s opposition may be
using child soldiers follows last week´s report from the New York-
based rights group Human Rights Watch that armed Syrian opposition
groups have kidnapped, tortured and executed members of supporters of
Assad and members of his security forces.
"We are receiving allegations of children with the Free Syrian Army,"
Radhika Coomaraswamy, U.N. special representative for children and
armed conflict, said in response to a question about Syria´s rebels.
She gave no details.
"We haven´t been able to verify or check" the veracity of those
allegations, Coomaraswamy added.
