The case against Thomas Lubanga Dyilo was the first to be brought before the International Criminal Court (ICC) Pre-Trial Chamber. It also marks the first time an individual engaged in noninternational crimes was brought before an international court solely on the basis of those acts. What were his noninternational crimes? On August 28, 2006, the Office of the Prosecutor of the ICC filed a document containing the charges against Lubanga Dyilo. It outlined three counts of war crimes charges, under the Rome Statute, for which he was being held:

Count 1: CONSCRIPTING CHILDREN INTO ARMED GROUPS, a WAR CRIME, punishable under Articles 8(2)(e)(vii) and 25(3)(a) of the Rome Statute.

Count 2: ENLISTING CHILDREN INTO ARMED GROUPS, a WAR CRIME, punishable under Articles 8(2)(e)(vii) and 25(3)(a) of the Rome Statute.

Count 3: USING CHILDREN TO PARTICIPATE ACTIVELY IN HOSTILITIES, a WAR CRIME, punishable under Articles 8(2)(e)(vii) and 25(3)(a) of the Rome Statute.

According to the evidence, Lubanga Dyilo did not personally conscript children into the rebel war. Instead, at the time the crimes were committed, he was acting as president of the Union des Patriotes Congolais (UPC) and the commander-in-chief of its former military wing, the Forces Patriotiques pour la Libération du Congo (FPLC). When the ICC's jurisdiction began, and throughout 2003, FPLC commanders were enlisting, forcibly recruiting, and abducting children into the ranks of the FPLC, using them to participate actively in hostilities in the Ituri district of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).