Yunusa Usman, Doctoral Researcher, Faculty of Law, Europa-Universität Viadrina, Frankfurt (Oder), Germany
ABSTRACT
Thousands of children are conscripted and deployed to fight for state and non-state actors in various conflict theatres worldwide. Dominic Ongwen was just supposed to be part of this grim statistic. However, through a series of intervening events, he became the first former child soldier tried and convicted by the International Criminal Court for crimes, including the one perpetrated against him as a child. Understandably, the blurring of the line between perpetrator and victim in Ongwen's case has generated significant academic and sometimes emotive discourse. As the case came to an end in February 2024 with the award of reparations against him for thousands of victims connected with Uganda's non-international armed conflict, the Paper revisits this intriguing case through a textual analysis of the record of judicial proceedings and relevant legal provisions and explores the interplay between Ongwen's dual status, his reliance on the defence of insanity and the critical approaches of the trial and appellate Chambers of the Court to this novel case. This Paper concludes that despite certain areas requiring further elaboration, the International Criminal Court, through its handling of the Ongwen case, has significantly fleshed out the jurisprudence on the interplay between trauma related to child soldiering and the defence of insanity to guide future trials.
Keywords: Child Soldier, Crimes against Humanity, Defence of Insanity, Dominic Ongwen, International Criminal Court, International Criminal Law, War Crimes.
Comentários