KATHMANDU, 1 May 2007 (IRIN) - Local child protection agencies in Nepal are concerned over the lack of action to trace and release child soldiers in the country, children's rights activists told IRIN on Monday.

"We are very frustrated over the lack of any action to find the child soldiers, who are in dire need of rehabilitation," activist Sanjaya Aryal, a member of the Children Associated with Armed Forces and Groups (CAAFAG) task force, told IRIN in the capital, Kathmandu.

CAAFAG comprises over 14 local and international child agencies advocating the release and rehabilitation of child soldiers.

Aryal said there was substantial evidence of child soldiers still being sheltered inside various Maoist cantonment sites all around the country but rights groups face difficulty getting information about these children