The United States on Wednesday defended its detention of around 500 minors in Iraq, saying it had developed an "extensively robust" programme to meet the special needs of child combatants.

"The US does detain juveniles that are encountered on the battlefield," said Sandra Hodgkinson, deputy assistant secretary at the Department of Defense.

"We go to great lengths when we do detain juveniles to recognise the special needs of the juvenile population and to provide them with a safe environment away from hostilities," she told journalists.

The Pentagon confirmed last week a report by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) that the US army is currently holding around 500 minors in detention in Iraq, as well as nearly a dozen juveniles in Afghanistan.

The ACLU has also said US forces had detained 800 minors in Iraq as recently as last September.

"The United States has not recognised these child detainees' right to rehabilitation and reintegration, nor has the US recognised their juvenile status, in contravention of international juvenile justice standards," the ACLU said.

Hodgkinson said that some of the minors held in Iraq had planted roadside bombs -- known as Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) in military parlance -- which targeted US and other foreign troops in the country.

She said it was US policy to aim to detain minors for only one year, and that the military authorities had set up an "extensively robust" programme along with the Iraqi government to meet the detainees' educational and social needs.

Hodgkinson was speaking ahead of a review of the US implementation of its commitments under optional protocols to the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child. The review was to take place at UN offices in Geneva.

The United States has not ratified the main convention, the only state not to do so apart from Somalia.

Mark Lagon, chief US State Department official on child trafficking, defended this stance by saying that Washington disagrees with the balance struck in the convention between state and parental responsibilities for child welfare.

"The US has a circumscribed view about the responsibilities of the state with respect to civil society and with respect to citizens and parents," he said.

Moreover, some US states would find themselves in breach of the convention because of their policies on juvenile detention, including life imprisonment for some offenders.

"Currently this is not something the federal government is going to make a commitment on," Lagon said.