THE International Criminal Court yesterday for the first time ordered that victims of convicted Congolese warlord Thomas Lubanga receive reparations.

Lubanga, 51, was last month jailed to 14 years' imprisonment by The Hague-based tribunal for using child soldiers in his rebel army during a bloody conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo's Ituri province.

The Trust Fund for Victims will consult people "who suffered harm following Lubanga's crimes of enlisting, conscripting and using children under 15 years" to fight.

"Proposals for reparations, as advanced by the victims themselves, are to be collected by the [fund] and presented to a newly constituted trial chamber for approval," the court said.

The fund's executive director, Pieter de Baan, said: "We expect about 1000 victims to be eligible for reparations."

The fund has about $1.4-million available . De Baan said the money was not only aimed at helping victims of Lubanga's crimes but also those involved in possible future convictions by the court .

Lubanga himself has been declared indigent and "no assets or property referable to him have been identified to date".

A former militia commander, Lubanga was sentenced last monthfor his part in a war in which 60000 civilians were reportedly killed.

His conviction was also the ICC's first since the court started work in 2002. Lubanga has been detained in The Hague since 2006.