(MintPress)-The International Criminal Court (ICC) celebrated its 10-year anniversary by delivering a verdict on Wednesday in the first and only case to be tried since its inception in 2002, leaving many critics questioning the efficacy of the organization and the future of the international justice system.
Ruling from the official seat of the ICC in the Hague, Netherlands, judges found Congolese warlord Thomas Lubanga Dyilo guilty of war crimes of conscripting and using children under the age of 15 for combat purposes during several years of conflict between the Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC) and the Nationalist and Integrationist Front (FNI) beginning in 1997 in the Ituri region of northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Lubanga, once the political head of the UPC, denies the allegations and insists that he in fact ordered children not to become involved in the conflict as child soldiers. Lubanga claims prosecutors persuaded witnesses to lie against him.
In a unanimous ruling, the three ICC judges found Lubanga guilty of recruiting child soldiers for combat on the front lines. Lubanga faces life imprisonment – the ICC cannot order the death penalty.
“The chamber concludes that the prosecution has proved beyond reasonable doubt that Mr Thomas Lubanga Dyilo is guilty of conscripting and enlisting children under the age of 15 years,” said ICC presiding Judge Adrian Fulford. A separate judicial hearing will reveal Lubanga’s sentence. However, a final decision will not likely be reached soon. Lubanga may file an appeal within 30 days.
Limitations to the ICC
“This conviction is an important step by the ICC in obtaining justice for the war crime of recruiting children and using them in hostilities. However, in the DRC and elsewhere, too many people are still evading accountability for their actions, denying justice to their victims and perpetuating the use of child soldiers” said Richard Clarke, director of Child Soldiers International.
Stemming from the 1998 Rome Statute, the ICC became the first permanent international body for prosecuting core international crimes including genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes. The ICC was not implemented until 2002, however, and can only hear cases that occurred after its inception, exempting war crimes from the 1990s left unaddressed by previous tribunals.
Additionally, the ICC may only prosecute criminals in countries that are parties to the treaty. Several UN Security Council nations including the United States, China, and Russia do not comply with the ICC. 120 countries are party to the treaty while 32 countries have yet to ratify the Rome Statute.
Therefore the scope of the ICC’s influence is limited to countries willing to comply with its jurisdiction and cooperate in turning over criminals since the ICC does not have a police force to capture criminals.
Due to the limitations it faces, the ICC has focused all of its investigations on countries in Africa. William A. Schabas, professor of international law at Middlesex University, argues this is done on purpose to avoid unwanted backlash from the UN.
Shabas believes the lead ICC prosecutor Moreno Ocampo “avoided situations where he would likely step on the toes of permanent members of the Security Council, from Afghanistan to Gaza, to Iraq, to Colombia.”
Even once the ICC decides to indict criminals, it must wait until suspects are captured before a trial may begin. Many war criminals are still at large.
What has the ICC been doing for the past decade?
It took two years after the ICC was created before the investigation into Lubanga even began. It took three more years before he was charged and another two years before the trial began. To date, 15 cases and 7 situations have been brought before the ICC.
Of those 15 cases, four cases have reached the trial stage, but Lubanga’s is the only one to have reached a verdict in the past 10 years. The ICC is currently pursuing investigations in Uganda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Darfur in Sudan, the Central African Republic, Kenya, Libya, and the Ivory Coast.
Three other DRC cases were brought to the ICC in addition to Lubanga. One of the cases is currently underway, one has been dismissed based on lack of evidence, and the fourth suspect remains at large.
The second investigation undertaken by the ICC was into the violence of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in Uganda. LRA leader, Joseph Kony, along with other high-ranking LRA members Vincent Otti, Raska Lukwiya (believed to be dead), Okot Odhiambo, and Dominic Ongwen were all indicted by the ICC. However, none of the indicted LRA criminals have been apprehended.
Implications for “Kony 2012”
Geraldine Mattioli-Zeltnet, international justice and advocacy director at Human Rights Watch believes Lubanga’s verdict is an important step for the international justice system. “Military commanders in Congo and elsewhere should take notice of the ICC’s powerful message: using children as a weapon of war is a serious crime that can lead them to the dock,” Mattioli-Zeltner said.
However, Lubanga’s conviction has not effectively stopped the use of child soldiers in the DRC.
“Despite this important judgment on the use of child soldiers, victims of other atrocities at the hands of Lubanga’s UPC troops have yet to see justice,” Mattioli-Zeltner said.
Children continue to be actively recruited into the Congolese army and several other armed groups in the region including the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), a Ugandan rebel group whose leader has come under attack by a recent Invisible Children campaign.
“The ICC guilty verdict against Lubanga should be a stark warning to Joseph Kony who continues to send children into combat,” Mattioli-Zeltner said. “African and international efforts to apprehend Kony and other LRA leaders wanted by the ICC should be urgently stepped up.”
The advocacy group, Invisible Children, aims to do just that through its Kony 2012 campaign, which utilizes social media as a method to mobilize people to pressure the international community to step up efforts to capture and prosecute Kony and end the use of child soldiers by the LRA.
However audacious, Kony 2012 faces many challenges in catching a war criminal that has been indicted and wanted by the international justice community since 2005. Even if Kony is captured, a lengthy trial is sure to follow while child soldiers continue to be recruited by the remaining LRA leaders as happened with Lubanga in the DRC.
Source: MintPress