DHAKA: The United Nations has accused both sides to the Syria conflict of grave violations against children.

Children caught in the Syrian war are being recruited as child soldiers, used as human shields, and tortured, according to a new UN report.

The report, released on Tuesday, found that in the early stages of the nearly three-year conflict, the Syrian government troops were largely responsible for grave violations against children; then, as the conflict intensified and armed opposition became more organised they committed an increasing number of child abuses, reports Al-Jazeera.

The UN did not receive reports of formal recruitment of children by government forces, but troops and pro-government militia reportedly intimidated and seized young males, some under 18, to join them at checkpoints and during raids in pro-government and contested areas.

Th UN chief Ban Ki-moon said government forces "were responsible for the arrest, arbitrary detention and torture of children for their perceived or actual association with the opposition, and for using children as human shields."

Witnesses have told UN investigators that the majority of children were held in the same cells as adults and that children as young as 11 were tortured.

The report found that some of the treatment children were subjected to included "beatings with metal cables, whips and wooden and metal batons; electric shocks, including to the genitals; the ripping out of fingernails and toenails; sexual violence, including rape or threats of rape; mock executions; cigarette burns; sleep deprivation; solitary confinement; and exposure to the torture of relatives."

In one account in 2011, government forces used at least eight children as hostages against the opposition to surrender. The UN says it does not know their fate.

BDST: 1300 HRS, FEB 05, 2014