The Ongwen Judgments: A Stain on International Justice.

This article critically examines the International Criminal Court's (ICC) trial and appeal judgments in the case of Dominic Ongwen, a former child soldier abducted by the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) in northern Uganda. It argues that the ICC failed to adequately consider Ongwen's individual social context, including his cultural and racial background, and the enduring psychological impact of his abduction and forced conscription as a child soldier. The judgments rejected Ongwen's affirmative defenses related to mental disease and duress, applying a rigid interpretation of Article 26 of the ICC Statute, which sets the age of criminal responsibility at 18, without accounting for the continuous trauma experienced beyond that age. The article contends that this approach not only re-victimized Ongwen but also undermines the legitimacy of international criminal justice by ignoring the complexities of child soldiering, cultural factors, and the principle of non-punishment for victims of trafficking and enslavement.