AMSTERDAM, Feb 29 (Reuters) - The International Criminal Court said it will deliver its verdict on Congolese warlord Thomas Lubanga, who is accused of conscripting, training and arming hundreds of child soldiers, on March 14, in the war crimes court's first trial.
Lubanga's alleged crimes took place during the Democratic Republic of Congo's 1998-2003 conflict. He was handed over to the court in 2006 and went on trial in 2009.
An ethnic Hema, Lubanga has denied charges he enlisted and conscripted children under 15, some as young as nine years old, to his Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC) movement to kill members of the rival Lendu tribe.
Prosecutors have said Lubanga is guilty beyond "any possible doubt" and that his armed group recruited "hundreds of children to kill, pillage and rape."
More than 30,000 child soldiers were recruited during the Congo conflict, according to some estimates. One girl told the court she was conscripted at the age of 13 and repeatedly sexually assaulted by her commanders.
Lubanga has said he was a politician rather than a warlord, and had never played an active role in the UPC'S militia.
(Reporting by Sara Webb)
Reuters
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Stunting: The Global Crisis You\'ve Never Heard Of
Suppose I asked you to imagine a courtroom in which a stern judge peers with indifference at a baby — and off-handedly condemns the infant either to death or a life shorter than her peers, with poorer cognitive capacity, more likelihood of disease and less ability to learn at school and earn as an adult.
Of course, you would say this is unimaginable. What judge, or human being, would do such a thing? But this is what is happening to an estimated 180 million children under the age of 5, children whose bodies and minds are limited by stunting. Stunting, or stunted growth, is the result of chronic nutritional deficiencies. A stunted 5-year-old is four to six inches shorter than a non-stunted peer. But lost height is the least of concerns: a stunted child, for instance, is nearly five times more likely to die from diarrhea than a non-stunted child because of the physiological changes in a stunted body. Stunting is also associated with impaired brain development. A typical stunted brain has fewer cells. The cells themselves are somewhat smaller, and the interconnection between them is more limited. This means lasting impaired functioning, which leads in turn to significantly reduced learning. Considering the severe effects, stunting has received far too little attention for far too long.
Stunting: The Global Crisis You\'ve Never Heard Of
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