Are there other cases where military commanders have been prosecuted or charged with recruiting or using child soldiers?
The Special Court for Sierra Leone charged all nine of its original defendants, including the former Liberian president Charles Taylor, with the war crime of recruiting and using child soldiers. In 2007, four individuals were convicted of this crime and sentenced to jail terms ranging from seven to 50 years of imprisonment. The International Criminal Court has also charged others with crimes relating to child soldiers. The two other Ituri warlords in ICC custody-Katanga and Ngudjolo-are charged with using child soldiers in attacking civilians in Bogoro village in early 2003, in addition to other war crimes and crimes against humanity, including murder, sexual slavery, and rape. In its investigation in Uganda, the ICC has charged three leaders of the Lord’s Resistance Army, a Uganda-based armed group that has abducted more than 25,000 children for use as child soldiers over the past 20 years. Joseph Kony, the group’s leader, is among those charged. These leaders remain at large and have
