February 29, 2024
THE HAGUE, Netherlands | The International Criminal Court (ICC) on Wednesday decreed that nearly 50,000 victims of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) atrocities in Uganda are to receive a collective compensation exceeding €52 million ($56 million). This decision marks a significant step in addressing the grave injustices suffered by those impacted by the brutal campaign of violence led by former LRA commander Dominic Ongwen.
The compensation, the largest ever ordered by the ICC, targets a wide array of victims, including former child soldiers, women and girls subjected to sexual and gender-based crimes, and children born as a result of rapes and forced pregnancies. Presiding Judge Bertram Schmitt acknowledged the severe and lasting harm inflicted upon these individuals, emphasizing the need for comprehensive reparations to aid their recovery.
Despite Ongwen’s inability to pay the awarded compensation due to lack of resources, the ICC has called upon its Trust Fund for Victims to facilitate the payment, urging support from states, organizations, corporations, and private individuals to contribute towards fulfilling this monumental reparations order.
Victims are to receive a “symbolic award” of €750 each, with additional reparations including community-based rehabilitation programs and the establishment of memorial sites to honor the suffering and resilience of those affected by the LRA’s reign of terror.
Ongwen, who himself was abducted by the LRA as a child before rising through its ranks, was convicted in 2021 on 60 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity. His crimes include rape, murder, and child abduction, for which he is currently serving a 25-year sentence in Norway.
The LRA, led by the still-fugitive warlord Joseph Kony, waged a brutal insurgency against the Ugandan government and its civilians, primarily from the northern regions of the country. Despite the militia’s significant reduction in force, the scars of their violent campaign remain deeply etched in the lives of their victims.
Louis Lakor, a survivor of the LRA’s brutality, encapsulated the sentiments of many by acknowledging the symbolic nature of the reparations. Having endured unimaginable loss at the hands of the rebels, Lakor highlighted the irreplaceable nature of the lives and innocence lost, underscoring the reparations as a gesture towards acknowledgment and healing rather than full compensation.
