UK High Court judge appointed to ICC

A QC since 1994, Fulford's legal expertise includes relevant issues that include violence against women and children, murder and terrorism, and the protection of victims and sources of evidence. He will serve under Canadian Philippe Kirsch QC, who was elected as the court's president after spending years working to secure its establishment.

At the swearing in ceremony, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said the judicial panel "have made themselves the embodiment of [the world's] collective conscience".

The ICC will have jurisdiction over serious crimes such as war crimes, genocide, mass murder, enslavement, rape, torture and the crime of aggression, once court signatory countries can agree upon a definition.

ICC prosecutors can only investigate crimes committed after 1 July 2002. Member countries and the UN Security Council can refer cases.