Sheila Velez, a freelance journalist and author of the “Lubanga Chronicles” which document the ICC trial, writes in allAfrica.com that the court trial of ‘alleged Congolese warlord Thomas Lubanga Dyilo – the first war crimes trial to be conducted by the International Criminal Court (ICC)’ is a tragic glimpse into the seemingly inescapable fate of child soldiers in strife-torn Africa.

Lubanga was president of the Union des Patriots Congolais (UPC) between September 2002 and August 2003. During this period, the notorious warlord “recruited, trained and used hundreds of young children to pillage, rape and kill.” These are some of the charges now leveled against him at his trial in the ICC at The Hague.

The criminal charges make Lubanga one of the large scale perpetrators of child abuse and use of child soldiers. Velez adds that “children were enticed, abducted, even given up by their parents for military training, the parents acting to protect themselves and their ethnic group. Many of the children were aged 10 to 15, some allegedly as young as five.”

The use of child soldiers seems to be a trend among militias and military dictatorships around the world. Child soldiers seem to possess the ‘desirable qualities’ of unwavering loyalty, blind obedience, ability to follow orders without question or possibility of mutiny, willingness to work without payment, fresh and passionate fearlessness in battle, the general ignorance of the dangers and risks in war, and a general pervading fear of their masters. Girl soldiers can also be handy to work as domestic and sex slaves.

International laws that are established to protect children in conflict do not seem to eradicate the despicable phenomenon of child soldiers. While some are coerced into the act, there are many that are brainwashed enough to be willing to fight in behalf of warlords and dictators.

The Lubanga trial will prove the mettle of such laws and hopefully put an end to the phenomenon of child soldiers.

Image: L. Rose/USAID
Wikimedia Commons