UNITED NATIONS Iraq said on Thursday that UN sanctions imposed after its 1990 invasion of Kuwait were "a flagrant violation" of the human rights of its children and urged prosecution of those responsible.

In an unsolicited report to the UN Security Council and Secretary General Kofi Annan, Baghdad also said its children should be paid damages for their suffering under the embargo.

The report called the sanctions "a weapon that is no less dangerous than weapons of mass destruction," citing unspecified estimates that they have killed between 500,000 and 1.5 million Iraqis, most of them children.

Baghdad did not spell out where or how the alleged violations of international law should be tried. Nor did it say precisely who should be tried, though it singled out Washington for its strong support for the sanctions regime.

The report was the latest charge in a broad public relations campaign launched by Iraq to pressure the Security Council to weaken or lift the sanctions, which include an oil embargo.

Baghdad argues the sanctions should be ended because it has fulfilled its obligation under council resolutions to eliminate its weapons of mass destruction.

But the 15-nation council, at the urging of the United States and Britain, insists Iraq must first let weapons inspectors return to verify its claims.

The new U.S. administration of President George W. Bush has vowed to breathe new life into the sanctions.

The report said, "The social fabric of the Iraqi family and of the community has been torn apart, and children have been deprived of their right to life, health and education."

It alleged the sanctions violated the Security Council's own resolutions as well as the UN Charter, the Geneva Conventions on the conduct of war, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

The report made no mention of the Council's Oil-For-Food program, which since December 1996 has allowed Baghdad to sell oil to buy food, medicine and other humanitarian supplies for its people.

But UN officials have reported that impoverished Iraqis have bartered or sold food rations to buy clothing and other necessities.

(Reuter)