Ethical Loneliness in the Trial of Dominic Ongwen

• In Event: Atrocity Crimes: New Approaches in the Analysis and Teaching of Atrocity Crimes (ECACTJ)

Abstract

Philosopher Jill Stauffer writes of “ethical loneliness,” which she defines as “the isolation one feels when one, as a violated person or as one member of a persecuted group, has been abandoned by humanity, or by those who have power over one’s life’s possibilities.” Those experiencing ethical loneliness “emerge from that injustice only to find that the surrounding world will not listen to or cannot properly hear their testimony”. In my paper, I will use the concept of ethical loneliness to explore the trial of former child soldier Dominic Ongwen at the International Criminal Court.
There are layers to this ethical loneliness in the trial. Dominic Ongwen would not have become a commander in the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) had he not been abducted. His abduction was only possible due to the failure of Uganda to protect children from the predations of the LRA. His rights were gravely violated, yet he emerged from the LRA to find that his testimony would only be heard through the frame of his criminal trial. Ongwen’s victims were long forgotten until his trial. His trial validates their stories while invalidating those of other victims. In exploring these themes my paper will shed light on the complexities of responding to child perpetrators of mass atrocities and the place of criminal processes in combatting and contributing to ethical loneliness.

Author

• Kjell Anderson, University of Manitoba