UN backs down on child soldiers

The United Nations has published new proposals for a special court in Sierra Leone to try both adults and teenage soldiers for war crimes.

The revised proposals came after an outcry from child welfare groups and human rights campaigners, who were opposed to plans submitted by the UN's legal department for teenage soldiers aged between fifteen and eighteen to face trial for atrocities. The BBC correspondent at the United Nations says the proposals proved controversial even though UN officials made it clear that the teenagers, if found guilty, would not be imprisoned. The UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, has now said the UN Security Council must make the final decision on whether teenagers in that age group should face prosecution.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service