The Lubanga trial in The Hague at the International Criminal Court (ICC) marks a fundamental turning point for international justice in the fight against impunity. The plight of child soldiers has been one of the serious concerns of the international community.
In the DRC, the issue of child soldiers has a been central concern for the Congolese government during the past decade. The first national law protecting children has just been adopted by the parliament in June 2008.
The Lubanga trial evokes mixed feelings in the Congo among human rights activists and local communities, including children. Many agree that the it is an unprecedented step, but others point out that peace has not come yet.
It is clear that for many people, there’s still a long way before they see peace and feel security: militias are still operating across the eastern part of the country, hundreds of children are reportedly recruited by armed groups despite the fact that Lubanga is at the trial.
This is an indication that people should have realistic expectations; the clear indicator of the impact of the Lubanga trial is the cessation of child recruitment by any parties in conflict in the DRC. But why are children still at risk of recruitment as child soldiers in the eastern DRC?
I think there are many reasons to explain this:
1. People still don’t make the connection between Lubanga and the crimes with which he’s charged: the priority is given to security over justice. Children in war zones being easy prey, they’ll be at risk.
2. Lack of trust in the ICC to be an independent justice institution: People still see the ICC as a western court, and Lubanga is being prosecuted as a scapegoat–at least according to some communities in or from Ituri and even outside Ituri.
3. The lack of domestic capacity to incorporate ICC crimes: although the DRC has a law protecting children against any abuses, domestic institutions are still too far behind to lead the fight against impunity.
4. The political climate is passive: there’s still a mentality of acquiring political power by military power.
Justifying the crimes for which Lubanga was arrested remains a hard sell for the Court’s outreach to local populations. The concept of a hierarchy of crimes remains in people’s minds. People still don’t feel the impact of child soldiering; in the Court’s outreach, it should be made clear that the impact is beyond the single child or his family. The duty to protect the child is not the sole responsibility of just his family or community, it is a duty for all people and institutions, and it is in that capacity that the ICC has the mandate.
The Lubanga trial should have given any child the hope that change is coming into their life. Human rights activists would agree that the Lubanga trial is the result of the engagement of the international community to hear the voices of the voiceless in the call for justice, but also we can agree that there’s a long way to go to achieve peace.
For the children, I think they would agree also that the International Criminal Court has given them the opportunity to use the power of their story, the power of their testimony, their experience to demand and obtain justice.
This is not yet concrete but in the few weeks or months ahead, this may well become a reality.
Bukeni T. Waruzi is a filmmaker and expert on child soldiers with WITNESS where he is Program Coordinator for Africa and the Middle East.
Watch the documentary video “The Lubanga Trial at the ICC” co-produced by Open Society’s Justice Initiative and WITNESS to inform the public about the trial here.
Two child soldiers named X and Y talked to me about their daily problems after they were able to leave the movements.
X was enrolled at the age of 12, abandoning his studies in his second year of junior high. He says: when I was in the military movement, I provided security to my commander along with other children. Wherever he went, I was with him and he thought highly of me because I did my job well. I did everything he asked without being afraid that I might lose my life. I never asked him for anything (not even for money) but to only be by his side and to lead the war. When the latter ended, my commander chanted for victory and he was then integrated into the governmental armed forces. But, as for me, they told me to go home because children were not part of the military service, something that really shocked me because in the movement, on the front, no one ever told me that. All they said was that children did not die during war; even the best gunmen could not aim at them!
Thus, by learning that I could not be part of the armed forces like my commander, I regretted the time I lost, the life I threw away and the studies I abandoned. My despair was accentuated also by the stigmatization in which I am a victim of. If we steal here and there, everyone points the finger at me. No one else can be able to commit a crime if there is an ex-child soldier. Besides, I do not sleep anymore. Dreams (of combats, of deaths, of cadavers which I assisted in) keep me from sleeping.
Y, an ex-girl soldier victim of rape and who was pregnant talks about the same misfortunes. After being raped by commanders, I fled. The pregnancy almost cost me my life had there not been a benefactor who helped me with me giving birth. He also helped me fit into the family. The latter did not accept me and I had to flee the house because the child was born to a rape. I did not know where to go and I thought of suicide.
So, who is responsible for the misfortunes of children? African states are committed to respect children’s rights across signed Conventions. They are also signatories of the Rome Statute. Have they signed something in which they do not know the content? No! The leaders of this cradle of humanity have not become aware, unless they have forgotten, that human dignity is above all the demands and in no case, can it be put into question due to the hungers of power. The times when the sovereign had a choice over the life and death of one of his subjects is over. May one answer to the acts of justice and leave no room for violence, terror, dictatorship and to all these human barbarities. Long live the ICC and its actions to restore dignity in Africa. The ICC is not racist, not africanist, not instrumentalized by Europeans but it is humanistic. May we think more of victims who need more justice and rights. May justice reign in Africa like it has to Westerners who founded their politics on the ethics of human rights! It is about time to imitate the good examples and to say never again to the enrollment of children in movements!
I question the ability of the Court to rule on this issue in a good way because of the nature of civil movements–children will always be involved. They will always be the soldiers as the parents of war fall and they become fighters and targets… then you may prosecute all civil war participants… To be involved in this type of civil rebellion is the crime that would be eventually be punished… It may be reasoned that civilians should not have weapons and then individuals would loose the ability to protect themselves or change their circumstances … but yes I see the concern of children knowing nothing but war then growing older and doing what they know.