Punishing child soldiers can kill the spirit of amnesty

Abducted at only 10 years, Dominic Ongwen went on to create headlines for many wrong reasons. Now he becomes the very first juvenile recipient of ICC's punitive procedure, for crimes he presumably committed as a child soldier.

Dominic's trial began recently, amid mixed feelings from victims and neutrals the world over, whether or not his trial is good for official pardon. But the whole thing is now going to rewind the arms of the clock, back to the torrid times of Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) war that ravaged northern Uganda between about 1987 and 2003. And once again, the justice proceeding of Dominic at The Hague is sure to throw up many more debates. Some of which I will happily refrain from mentioning.

Ongwen's story being the hottest event of recent weeks brings up nice discussions about the involvement of child soldiers in military combat. It starts up the story of whether juvenile fighters should have the book thrown at them. For kids who get abducted at tender ages and are indoctrinated to cause havoc, all the crimes committed against humanity that you can think of, they will commit - for fear of being finished.

And for Dominic, this is evident in the number of charges (at 70) that hangs over his head. For now, the general perspective is to address the crimes politely as allegations. So it is being alleged that this fellow has murdered hundreds of his victims, raped, sexually enslaved, tortured, and pillaged people. And initiated and conscripted thousands of children below 15 into military activities.

Also, it is strongly believed that he committed a lot of these crimes as an adult too. We cannot forget easily! And so, should child combatants be held accountable for their misbehaviours? Half of me say no. Regardless, for Dominic and many others, maybe they should not be made to pay up for their sins. We keep talking about it for the sake of thousands of child soldiers who continue the rampage of war crimes in many corners of our world. I think that if amnesty can be granted to even adult combatants, then child soldiers should get the pardon. Forgive (and maybe do not forget) but move forward.

This will save us from the agony of looking for the best mathematical model to attempt to equate the amount of crimes committed, to any measure of justice that can be granted. So it is prudent to forgive offenders who plead and beg their victims for mercy. Remember in 2000, our government offered blanket amnesty for people who abandoned rebellion and returned home!

It is sad that this arrangement was not for senior rebels. So the likes of Ongwen would not benefit from the Government's olive branch. But the results were remarkable. About 30,000 criminals took up the offer. And today, these groups have integrated into communities and there is no looking back. They were remorseful and thus, are now a part of us. The same can be said of even their leaders who still remain in the wilderness. The other side of the story would be that a former child soldier upon growing older continued to maim civilians and so shouldn't be left to walk freely.

That Ongwen and many of his comrades had chance after chance to denounce rebellion. But they instead chose to fight on. So a section of populations would rightly demand for his head. In my opinion, child soldiers should be forgiven. It is the only way of ensuring that sustainable peace prevails.

Punishing a guy like Ongwen means that their leader (Joseph Kony) would stay away from home for fear of facing the noose. And there would be no peace.

The writer is a civil engineer