Court convicts over child soldiers.In a ground-breaking move, the war crimes court for Sierra Leone Sierra Leone (sēĕr`ə lēō`nē, lēōn`; sēr`ə lēōn), officially Republic of Sierra Leone, republic (2005 est. pop. 6,018,000), 27,699 sq mi (71,740 sq km), W Africa. has handed down the first-ever convictions by a UN-backed tribunal for the crime of recruiting and using child soldiers. Thousands of children were used by all sides during Sierra Leone's brutal 11-year conflict, which ended in 2002. They were often forcibly forc·i·ble adj. 1. Effected against resistance through the use of force: The police used forcible restraint in order to subdue the assailant. 2. Characterized by force; powerful. recruited, given drugs and used to commit atrocities. Thousands of girls were also forced to become soldiers and often subjected to sexual exploitation. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] In Freetown in June, the Special Court for Sierra Leone The Special Court for Sierra Leone is an independent judicial body set up to "try those who bear greatest responsibility" for the war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Sierra Leone after 30 November 1996 during the Sierra Leone Civil War. found three men from the rebel Armed Forces The Rebel Armed Forces (Spanish: Fuerzas Armadas Rebeldes, FAR) was a 1960s Guatemalan guerilla organization. FAR is most significantly known for having killed the U.S. ambassador to Guatemala, John Gordon Mein, in 1968. Also killed that year were two U.S. Revolutionary Council (Alex Tamba Brima, Brima Bazzy Kamara and Santigie Borbor Kanu) guilty of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and other serious violations of international law, including the recruitment and use of child soldiers. 'The use of child soldiers is a particularly horrific crime. These children should have been learning how to read, not how to shoot an AK-47,' says Jo Becker from Human Rights Watch. 'We hope that the Special Court's decision will protect children in other parts of the world from suffering what so many Sierra Leonean children were forced to endure.' RELATED ARTICLE: Word power. The language of diplomacy ... by Mitchell & Richardson diplomacy n. the art of saying pleasant things to people you hate. embassy n. den in international game of tag. LiAble a. diplomatic. negotiate v. to smile invitingly while brandishing a baseball bat. resolution n. verbose Wordy; long winded. The term is often used as a switch to display the status of some operation. For example, a /v might mean "verbose mode." statement that says nothing. talks n. pl. simultaneous talking by diplomats Some famous diplomats include: Afghanistan
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