Congolese Warlord Convicted of Using Child Soldiers PARIS - Thomas Lubanga, a rebel leader from the Congo, was found guilty on Wednesday of recruiting and enlisting boys and girls under the age of 15 and using them to make war. A panel of judges at the International Criminal Court issued its ruling in a brief session at the tribunal's headquarters in The Hague, the first verdict issued by the court since it began its work 10 years ago. The decision, which came after a three-year trial, was considered particularly significant because it firmly establishes the use of children in war as an international crime. It also focused new attention on the plight of children in many other conflicts, including the campaign by Joseph Kony, the leader of the Lord's Resistance Army operating in at least four central African countries. Among a raft of crimes, he is accused of abducting children and forcing them to commit atrocities. Mr. Kony, who is on the run, is also wanted by the Hague court. The United Nations estimates that tens of thousands of boys and girls, some only 8 years old, are involved in numerous conflicts in Africa, Latin America and Asia. A former Canadian general and now senator, Romeo Dallaire who created the Child Soldiers Initiative, said recently that more than 250,000 children are currently used as messengers, bodyguards, soldiers or sex slaves in conflicts in more than 30 countries, about 40 percent of them girls. Mr. Lubanga, dressed in an elegant white ceremonial robe, stared down as the presiding judge, Adrian Fulford of Britain, said that the evidence had confirmed that he and his fellow fighters had enlisted boys and girls under the age of 15, sometimes by force, sometimes voluntarily, put them through harsh training, punished them, deployed them in fighting and subjected girls to sexual violence. Mr. Lubanga even used children as his bodyguards, the judge told a courtroom packed with court officers and with many observers in the public and press galleries. Mr. Lubanga, a one-time psychology student, had told the court that he was only a political leader of the Union of Congolese Patriots and had discouraged using children. But the court found that in 2002 and 2003, during the ethnic conflict in the Ituri region of the Congo, Mr. Lubanga also headed his group's military wing, provided weapons, ammunition, food and uniforms and made speeches in Ituri "encouraging children to join the army." Videos presented in court showed Mr. Lubanga in training camps in the presence of uniformed children. The brutal conflict in Ituri, fueled by ethnic strife and rivalries for power and control over mineral riches, had been going on during 1990s, but the court's jurisdiction only went into effect in 2002. After reading a summary of Mr. Lubanga's conviction, Judge Fulford said the panel would announce the sentence at a future, unspecified date.