The number of conflicts in which child soldiers were involved dropped sharply from 27 in 2004 to 17 at the end of 2007, according to a report on Tuesday by the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers

despite the decline, the report said tens of thousands of children remain in the ranks of militias and other armed groups in at least 24 countries

the number of governments that use children to fight fell only slightly from 10 in 2001-2004 to nine in 2004-2007

Myanmar

forcibly recruit boys under the age of 18 and contain thousands of children, some as young as 11 years old

Children also took part in hostilities in government forces in Chad, Congo, Somalia, Sudan, Uganda and Yemen, it said

Israel's Defence Forces used Palestinian children as human shields on several occasions and a few British under-18s were deployed to Iraq up until mid-2005