The UK is the only Western European country to deploy child soldiers in battle. The International Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers in its new Global Report on Child Soldiers, launched 12 June, compares the UK's recruitment and deployment of child soldiers to the practices of Sri Lanka, East Timor, Angola and Iran.

Under-18s in the armed forces currently numbers almost 7,000, making up a third of new recruits. But while condemning countries such as Sierra Leone, Columbia and Rwanda, the UK continues to send 17-year-olds to war.

Its policy violates key human rights treaties that it has ratified, including the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the International Labour Organisation Convention 182 on the worst forms of child labour, which came into force in the UK in March 2001.

'It is an absolute scandal that the UK continues to deploy in battle under-18s while lecturing other countries about their use of child soldiers. A change in the MOD's recruitment policy is urgently required', Mike Dottridge, Anti-Slavery International Director, said.

Under-18s may not vote, drink alcohol or join the police force. But they can join the armed forces. Young recruits are particularly vulnerable to abuse, including rape, harassment, bullying and assault. Between 1982 and 1999, 92 child soldiers died, four of whom died in battle.

Anti-Slavery is a member of the UK Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers which aims to stop the recruitment and deployment of under-18s into the UK armed forces. It brings together a number of organisations including Amnesty International, Pax Christi, the Peace Pledge Union, the Jesuit Refugee Service, Quaker Peace and Service, UNICEF UK, World Vision UK, and others.