Graca Machel hails Lubanga verdict

[iolsa]

Humanitarian campaigner and wife of Nelson Mandela, Graca Machel, said the International Criminal Court's conviction of a Congolese warlord sends a clear message to the world that forced recruitment of child soldiers will not go unpunished.

The court in the Hague delivered its landmark first judgment on Wednesday, finding Thomas Lubanga guilty of using child soldiers in  the Congo in 2002-2003. Prosecutors have called for a maximum penalty of life imprisonment when sentence is passed later this year.

In a statement on Friday Machel said after the watershed ruling others involved in "robbing children of their innocence and turning  them into killing machines" must be hunted down.

She said: "It is abhorrent that individuals like Lubanga use children as cannon fodder to do their bidding." - Sapa-AP



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