On Monday, the ICC will begin proceedings in its first trial ever – Congolese warlord Thomas Lubanga Dyilo will stand trial for using child soldiers during the Congo's civil war. (As TRIAL notes, Lubanga's group, the Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC), is also accused of massacring civilians). The legal documents filed before in the case are available from the ICC's website, here.
As Kevin Heller has observed, there have been some problems with the prosecution, including the prosecution's failure to disclose materially exculpatory evidence and a change in the lead prosecuting attorney less than a month before the commencement of trial. Hopefully by now they’ve been ironed out; as this is the ICC's first case, it is essential for the court's credibility for things to run smoothly. It's also an important case:
the Congolese civil war may be the worst humanitarian crisis on Earh, and bringing some accountability to those most responsible for the conflict is a step in the right direction. Moreover, conscripting child soldiers is unmistakeably heinous; for a sense of the impact of the UPC's forcible conscription of children into paramilitary service, it's imperative to look at Bukeni Waruzi's work for WITNESS – which Chris Michael summarizes here.
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[...] The ICC needs greater mobility and a stronger mandate. It has no police force. It depends on the “good” will of participating countries for funding, investigations, and intelligence writes Nick Grono , deputy-president of the International Crisis Group. Lubanga’s trial will further test the court’s already weakened position. Hopefully, justice will prevail. [...]
[...] The first witness in war crimes trial of Congolese warlord Thomas Lubanga reversed his testimony hours after relaying accounts of his conscription as a child soldier. [...]
[...] the shape of War Crimes and International Law for years to come. The first of those events: The beginning of trials at the International Criminal Court. This marks the beginning of International Criminal Justice on a truly global level. While it [...]