The International Criminal Court (ICC) on Wednesday convicted a Congolese militia leader of using child soldiers in a brutal conflict, its first verdict since starting work almost a decade ago.
Thomas Lubanga, 51, was found guilty, six years after his arrest, of abducting children as young as 11 and forcing them to fight and commit atrocities in a bloody war in a gold-rich region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo).
The judgement of the court, set up to try war crimes and crimes against humanity, was hailed by the UN and world powers.
“It is an historic moment and an important step in providing justice and accountability to the Congolese people,” US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters.
Rights groups also praised the decision, saying it sent a strong message to those who force young children to kill — including Ugandan rebel leader Joseph Kony, now the target of an international online activist campaign.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called the ICC verdict “an important step forward” in making sure that “perpetrators of crimes against children in situations of armed conflict are brought to justice.”
In Geneva, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay called it a “major milestone in the fight against impunity.”
EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton said the ruling “resonates far beyond the Democratic Republic of the Congo, as the trial of Mr Lubanga has raised awareness about the plight of child soldiers and the fact that recruiting and using children under 15 in combat is a war crime.”
The warlord, who has denied the charges against him, will be sentenced at a date yet to be determined. He risks 30 years in jail or, if judges decide the crimes are exceptionally grave, even life in prison.
The DR Congo urged the court to impose an “exemplary” sentence to deter “all of those who have chosen war and murder, so that all these people know that genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity will always be tried.”
“Today’s verdict is a testament to the ICC’s commitment to hold to account those persons who force young children to become both the tools and victims of conflict,” British Foreign Office Minister for Africa Henry Bellingham said.
Presiding Judge Adrian Fulford read the verdict finding Lubanga guilty of “conscription and enlisting children under the age of 15 and used them to participate in hostilities” in fighting that lasted from 1998 to 2003.
Prosecutors told the court that militia under Lubanga’s control had abducted children from their homes, schools and soccer fields to serve as soldiers or sex slaves.
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