The United Nations' Children Fund, UNICEF, has accused both sides in the conflict in Sri Lanka of failing to protect children caught up in the war, despite earlier assurances.

Both the government and the Tamil Tiger rebels said last May that they would observe the UN convention on the rights of the child.

But UNICEF's Sri Lanka representative said implementing the convention has been slow, and he warned against complacency.

The UN estimates that nearly four-hundred thousand children have been displaced in Sri Lanka during more than a decade of fighting.