The United Nations yesterday hailed the International Criminal Court’s conviction of Congo warlord Thomas Lubanga as a “milestone” warning to all states which use child soldiers.

UN leader Ban Ki-moon called the ICC verdict “an important step forward” in making sure that “perpetrators of crimes against children in situations of armed conflict are brought to justice”.

The ICC found Mr Lubanga, 51, guilty of abducting and forcing hundreds of children as young as 11 to kill, plunder, rape and commit atrocities during the Ituri conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo between 2002 and 2003.

The ICC verdict sends a strong signal on “grave breaches of international law that will reverberate well beyond the DRC,” the UN rights official said in a statement.

Radhika Coomaraswamy, the UN special envoy on children in conflict, said: “In this age of global media, today’s verdict will reach warlords and commanders across the world and serve as a strong deterrent.”

In 2008, Ms Coomaraswamy appeared as an expert witness at the ICC where she stressed that apart from child soldiers, investigators must take into account children serving as spies, messengers, porters, scouts, and cooks.

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