REP. POWER'S REMARKS ON DOMINIC ONGWEN'S ARRIVAL AT INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT

FROM:  U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT 
Samantha Power
U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations 
New York, NY
January 20, 2015 UN 
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Dominic Ongwen’s arrival at the International Criminal Court in the Hague is a welcome development in the international community’s campaign to counter the LRA’s dehumanizing violence, and to bring perpetrators to justice after more than two decades of the LRA’s brutal campaign of torture, rape and murder.

I commend the governments of the Central African Republic and Uganda, as well as the leadership of the African Union, for their close coordination on this effort and for their commitment to ensuring that perpetrators of human rights violations face justice.

The fact that Ongwen will finally face trial is the latest sign of tangible progress in the African Union-led effort to end the threat posed by the LRA and its leader, Joseph Kony, to which the United States has dedicated considerable resources, including more than 100 U.S. military advisors. Today’s outcome is a great example of what can result from regional coordination in combating the LRA, and it is imperative that the African Union Regional Task Force (AU-RTF) continue to coordinate with regional governments, the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO), the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA), and the United Nations Regional Office for Central Africa (UNOCA) in its fight against the LRA, which still remains a serious threat to regional peace and security.

Those remaining LRA members should follow the lead of Dominic Ongwen and the more than 250 other individuals who have left the LRA since 2012. They should end their lives on the run and turn themselves in.

The United States continues to look forward to the end of the LRA and the day when its victims will finally be free from LRA terror, seeing justice that is long overdue.

REMARKS TO U.N. BY U.S. AMBASSADOR SUSAN E. RICE

FROM U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT
Remarks by Ambassador Susan E. Rice, U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations, in Response to a Question Submitted on Twitter
Susan E. Rice
U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations
U.S. Mission to the United Nations New York, NYApril 3, 2012

AS DELIVERED
AMBASSADOR RICE: So the question that we received – Mark, would you read it again?
MODERATOR: One more time, this is from @freeppl. Why are you not acting swiftly towards the killing in Syria as you did in Libya?

AMBASSADOR RICE: And I take that as, in the first instance, directed at the Security Council.
And I think as is well known, and I will say for the benefit of the folks at @freeppl, that the Security Council has been shamefully and woefully divided on the issue of Syria. And unable to adopt resolutions that even would entail relatively modest action.

In the case of Libya, we had Resolution 1970, which imposed strong sanctions and made a referral of Qadhafi to the International Criminal Court. And then we had 1973, which was a result of the regional group, the Arab League, making a request to the Security Council for intervention, and the Council coming together to authorize protection of civilians in a no-fly zone.

Now the circumstances in Syria are quite different. And, indeed, the circumstances in various countries within the Arab world have evolved in a different way.

There’s no such request from the Arab League. There’s no such unity in the Security Council. And, indeed, the circumstances on the ground are quite a bit different and more complex, with an opposition that is struggling to unify, that doesn’t control a clear and geographically identified swath of territory, as was the case in the east in Libya.

And therefore, very regrettably, and much to the frustration of the United States and many others in the international community, the Security Council, the international community, has not been able to respond robustly and swiftly, as we have sought. And even to go to the step of implementing meaningful sanctions.
But we will keep at it.

CONGOLESE MILITANT FOUND GUILTY OF USING CHILDREN AS SOLDIERS

The following excerpt is from a U.S. State Department e-mail:
ICC Conviction of Thomas Lubanga Dyilo
Press Statement Victoria Nuland
Department Spokesperson, Office of the Spokesperson Washington, DC
March 16, 2012
On March 14 2012, the International Criminal Court (ICC) convicted Thomas Lubanga Dyilo, former commander of the Patriotic Forces for the Liberation of the Congo militia and president of the Union of Congolese Patriots, for his responsibility for the war crimes of enlisting and conscripting children and using them to participate actively in hostilities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in 2002 and 2003. Congolese authorities referred the situation in the DRC to the ICC in 2004.

As the Court’s first conviction, this ruling is an historic and important step in providing justice and accountability for the Congolese people. The conviction is also significant for highlighting as an issue of paramount international concern the brutal practice of conscripting and using children to take a direct part in hostilities. These children are often sent to the front lines of combat or used as porters, guards, or sex slaves, and their conscription reverberates throughout entire communities. This conviction puts perpetrators and would-be perpetrators of unlawful child soldier recruitment and other atrocities on notice that they cannot expect their crimes to go unpunished.

Congolese institutions have a critical role to play in ending impunity in the DRC. The Congolese government has taken recent positive steps, such as the prosecution and conviction in national courts of several Congolese army officers for the mass rapes that took place in the town of Fizi on January 1, 2011. The United States continues to encourage the Congolese government to arrest other alleged human rights violators and abusers still at large.