Ministers are under pressure to include offenders aged 16 and 17 years old in the children's hearings system.

The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child will be in Scotland later in the year holding meetings and assessments to check on progress made since its report in 2002.

Then, it said the UK's different juvenile justice systems did not reflect the best interests of the child and urged Scotland to include older teenagers in the hearings system.

Kathleen Marshall, the Children's Commissioner for Scotland, backed by charities and academics, will highlight the fact the practice has not changed when she meets committee members.

Officials said they are reviewing their position in light of the UN policy but that there are no imminent plans to change the system.

The suggestion that those aged 16 and 17 should be dealt with by the panels rather than the courts was mooted by MSPs in 2004 but then dropped. With the UN's inspection this year, it is understood to be back on the agenda.

In line with concerns raised in the last UN report, Kenny MacAskill, the Justice Secretary, recently announced plans to end the imprisonment of children under 16. He is also reviewing the youth courts.

"We are in such a strong position when we talk about how we deal with children in the hearings system, but then we fall behind because once they hit 16 we hit them hard," said Ms Marshall. "We have to work better with the 16 to 18-year olds if we are to be compliant with the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

"Ministers will have to explain why they have not followed that."

There are also concerns about the growing numbers of people aged 16 and 17 sent to Polmont Young Offenders Institute (YOI) and prison - there are 210 16 and 17-year-olds in cells across Scotland.

Bill Whyte, director of the Criminal Justice Social Work Development Centre, said that, under the convention, children up to the age of 18 have special status.

"If we are serious about helping these young people and protecting the public then sending them to a YOI is not the right way to go about it,"

he said. "It is about wrapping around these young people not just with buildings, for the small number who need secure care, but about wrapping support and care around them. We have not been good enough at doing this."

Gerard Macaneenie, chair of the chairman's group for the children's panels, said the way children are moved from the hearings system into the adult court is a concern.

"Some of these young people, who may have been in the hearings system for much of their life, suddenly find themselves in the adult courts and even sent to prison," he said. "We are concerned about the need to prepare young people for this change."

A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: "We have no immediate plans to change the way 16 and 17-year-olds are dealt with but are looking at a number of issues around the hearings system in the context of children's hearings reform and our commitment to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child."