Originally issued as a CGS press release on January 27, 2009.
Washington, DC – Citizens for Global Solutions congratulates the International Criminal Court (ICC) on the beginning of its first trial of an accused war criminal. The International Criminal Tribunal is the world’s first permanent court for prosecuting individuals accused of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.
The case of The Prosecutor vs. Thomas Lubanga Dyilo brings to trial a militia commander in the Democratic Republic of Congo accused of recruiting and conscripting child soldiers. Lubanga is one of four suspects currently being held by the court. A second trial is likely to begin this year against Congolese rebel leaders Germain Katanga and Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity. To date, the ICC has issued twelve arrest warrants for individuals accused of committing offenses during brutal conflicts in the Central African Republic, Darfur, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
“The Lubanga trial is momentous. It is very first time in the history of humanity that a permanent international court has brought to trial one of the world’s most heinous criminals,” said Don Kraus,, CEO of Global Solutions. Kraus believes that the U.S. should now deepen its cooperation with the Court, so that U.S. officials can supply evidence and logistical support to investigations and trials currently underway in Sudan, Uganda, and the Congo.
President Bill Clinton signed the Rome Statute setting up the court, but the Bush administration “un-signed” the agreement in 2002. Citizens for Global Solutions calls on the Obama administration to re-sign the treaty, and to take a seat as an observer at the Court’s governing body, the Assembly of State Parties. “We also call for responsible U.S. participation in the ICC’s 2010 Review Conference, where representatives will discuss whether to expand the Court’s jurisdiction to cover carefully-defined international acts of aggression,” said Kraus.
