Fatou Bensouda appointed Chief Prosecutor of International Criminal Court

Gambian lawyer Fatou Bensouda was sworn in on 15 June 2012 as the International Criminal Court's new chief prosecutor. Bensouda was elected at the latest session of the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute (ASP) in December 2011 for a nine-year term.

Born on 31 January 1961 in Gambia, Bensouda is the first woman and the first African to be appointed as the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, which is investigating 15 cases in seven countries, all of them African. She also served as a Deputy Prosecutor in charge of the Prosecutions Division of the ICC since 2004.

Bensouda is the recipient of the ICJ International Jurists Award (2009), which was conferred on her by President of India Pratibha Devisingh Patil. Bensouda was given this award for her contributions to criminal law both at the national and International level.

What is International Criminal Court?

The International Criminal Court (ICC) is an independent international organisation, which has been set up to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes. The Court is is governed by the Rome Statute. The Rome statute was adopted on 17 July 1998 by120 States for establishing the permanent International Criminal Court. The Statute entered into force on 1 July 2002 after ratification by 60 countries.

Separate from the United Nations system it is the first permanent, treaty based, international criminal court established to prosecute the perpetrators of the most serious crimes of concern to the international community. The court has its permanant seating at The Hague in the Netherlands. The Court’s expenses are funded primarily by its 120 member States. It also receives voluntary contributions from governments, international organisations, individuals, corporations and other entities.