Originally issued as a CGS press release on October 14, 2005.
International Community Must Ensure Security for Possible Reprisals
Washington DC – Citizens for Global Solutions, one of the leading advocacy groups for a strong and effective International Criminal Court (ICC), today welcomed the ICC’s announcement that it has issued an arrest warrant for Lords Resistance Army (LRA) chief Joseph Kony.
Charles J. Brown, President and CEO of Citizens for Global Solutions and former spokesperson for the U.S. delegation to the ICC negotiations in Rome, said:
“The International Criminal Court action represents an essential first step toward securing justice for those who have suffered for far too long in northern Uganda. Joseph Kony is exactly the type of person for whom the ICC was created – an amoral warlord whose crimes include murder, rape, kidnapping, slavery and amputation. His actions represent nothing less than “the worst of the worst,” the very crimes for which the court was created.
“We call on the United States and its friends and allies to work in partnership with the Court and the Government of Uganda to not only ensure Kony’s swift capture, but protect his victims, their families and witnesses from reprisals.”
This is the first warrant to be issued by the ICC, operational since 2002. Its action confirms long-standing reports by credible independent sources that Kony and his LRA rebels are responsible for massive human rights violations against civilians in northern Uganda during his 19-year conflict with the Ugandan Government.
As a result of warfare between the Ugandan Government and Kony’s LRA rebels, more than 1.6 million Ugandans have been uprooted and 20,000 children kidnapped. Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni referred this conflict to the ICC in December 2003 and in July 2004 the ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo announced that he had opened an investigation into crimes against humanity and war crimes committed in that region since July 1, 2002.
For background information on the conflict and discussion of the next steps the ICC may take, please see our in-depth report, “In Uncharted Waters”.
