The International Criminal Court on Tuesday issued its first ever sentence, sentencing Congolese warlord Thomas Lubanga to 14 years in prison for using child soldiers in his rebel army.
The ICC is on a long list of international tribunals put in place since the 1990s to rule on crimes committed during conflicts:
- ICC: The ICC, the world's only permanent war crimes tribunal, tries crimes against humanity, genocide and war crimes. The court came into being in The Hague in 2003. After Lubanga, two other trials are underway.
The ICC has opened probes in seven African countries: the Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, Sudan, the Central African Republic, Kenya, Libya and the Ivory Coast.
It has issued 20 arrest warrants, including for Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir, who is wanted for war crimes and genocide.
- THE FORMER YUGOSLAVIA: The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, based in The Hague, was created in May 1993 by the United Nations Security Council to try those accused of warcrimes, crimes against humanity and genocide during the conflicts following the break-up of Yugoslavia.
Former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic, who died on March 11, 2006, while in prison in The Hague, was the first former head of state to be put on trial by the international justice system.
The former Bosnian Serb military chief Ratko Mladic has been on trial since June. The last of 161 people charged is awaiting the start of his trial.
- RWANDA: The UN set up the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, based in Arusha, Tanzania, in November 1994 to try the main perpetrators of the 1994 Rwanda genocide in which 800,000 died, mainly the ethnic minority Tutsis and moderate Hutus. The court has sentenced more than 50 people.
- SIERRA LEONE: Sierra Leone's special court, set up in Freetown after the signature of an accord between the UN and the government on January 16, 2002, was established to try those who bore the "greatest responsibility" for atrocities during the country's 1991-2001 war.
Liberian ex-president Charles Taylor, whose trial was transferred to The Hague, was sentenced to 50 years in jail on May 30 for arming Sierra Leone's rebels in return for "blood diamonds" during the brutal war, which claimed 120,000 lives.
It was the first judgment against a former head of state by an international court since the Nuremberg Nazi trials in 1946. He has said he intends to appeal the sentence.
- LEBANON: The UN-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon, created by a 2007 UN Security Council resolution at Lebanon's request, opened its doors in 2009 and is tasked with trying those suspected of responsibility for the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese premier Rafiq Hariri.
The tribunal is based outside The Hague and is the first international court to accomodate trials in absentia, where the accused is not present.
- CAMBODIA: Cambodia and the UN signed an agreement in 2003 to establish the tribunal, known as the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, a complex hybrid court combining elements of international and domestic law.
Its mandate is to prosecute senior leaders of the Khmer Rouge and "those most responsible" for the genocide committed between 1975 and 1979. The court has so far completed just one trial, sentencing a former prison chief to life in jail for overseeing the deaths of some 15,000 people.
Among the accused is former president Khieu Samphan, who has been on trial since late 2011.
