FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
12 February 2010
INTERNATIONAL DAY AGAINST THE USE OF CHILD SOLDIERS
One Year Later, Lubanga Trial's Impact Is Felt on the Ground
On 12 February 2010, the world will celebrate the International Day against the Use of Child Soldiers in commemoration of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of Children in Armed Conflict. The Optional Protocol which came into force on 12 February 2002 prohibits the recruitment of children under 18 into armed groups and government army and their direct participation in hostilities.
The Rome Statute - founding treaty of the International Criminal Court (ICC) - qualifies the enlistment and recruitment of children under fifteen, or using them to participate actively in hostilities, as a war crime. The ICC is the first permanent international court capable of trying individuals accused of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The trial against the Congolese warlord Thomas Lubanga, ICC's first trial, which opened one year ago, is an important step in the fight against the use of child soldiers. Lubanga is accused of using child soldiers in the Ituri conflict in eastern DRC from 2002 to 2003.
At the resumption of the Lubanga trial on 7 January 2010, Radhika Coomaraswamy, Special Representative of the Secretary General of the United Nations for Children and Armed Conflict, testified as an expert witness. She highlighted the positive impact of this trial on the recruitment of child soldiers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). "The ICC prosecution and trials are carefully monitored on the field, they have a deterrent effect on many armed groups: some have stopped recruiting and some have freed [child soldiers]," she said.
Pigeon Kambale Mahuka of the Association of Victims of Ituri War (AVIGUITURI) noted that many in the Ituri region still consider recruitment and use of child soldiers as a minor crime. "When children are forced to turn into soldiers, they lose their innocent nature and become weapons of war. Those responsible for turning them into child soldiers are the real criminals," said Mr. Muhuka. "The Lubanga trial is a good way to drive home the message that these crimes are grave.
"There is no question that the Lubanga trial underscores how much damage the use of child soldiers causes to children and communities," said Brigitte Suhr, Director of Regional Programs for the Coalition for the International Criminal Court (CICC). "We hope that this trial will set an example not only in the DRC but also around the world that the use of child soldiers is a serious crime and thereby contribute to the global trend away from using children as soldiers."
BACKGROUND
The trial of Thomas Lubanga Dyilo opened on 26 January 2009. Mr. Lubanga has allegedly participated, as a co-perpetrator, in the enlistment, conscription and use of children under the age of fifteen in hostilities. The crimes were allegedly committed during the period beginning September 2002, when the Forces Patriotiques pour la Libération du Congo (FPLC) were founded, and ending 13 August 2003.
To date, the ICC has issued thirteen arrest warrants and one summons to appear in four of the most brutal conflicts of our time: the Central African Republic; Darfur, Sudan; Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Four suspects have been arrested. The Court is also monitoring at least eight other situations on four continents. A second trial started on 24 November 2009 against Congolese rebel leaders Germain Katanga and Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Experts from DRC human rights organizations and international NGOs are listed on the following pages for comments and background on the trial. See http://www.iccnow.org/?mod=drctimelinelubanga for more information.
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The Coalition for the ICC is not an organ of the court. The CICC is an independent NGO movement dedicated to the establishment of the International Criminal Court as a fair, effective, and independent international organization.
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