The Court is installed” “

Eighteen judges, including eight Europeans, took their oath of office at The Hague on 11 March, in the course of the ceremony of formal installation of the International Penal Court. Before UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, each judge solemnly swore: “I shall perform my tasks and exercise my powers as judge of the International Penal Court with honour, obedience, impartiality and conscientiousness, and shall respect the confidentiality of the investigations and processes and the secrecy of the discussions”. The words were taken from the general principles of the oaths taken by judges throughout the world. At the end of his/her oath, each judge passed from the area allocated to the public to that reserved for the Court, placed on a podium. The first ten judges were chosen from a list of experts in penal law, the remaining eight from a list of persons with particular expertise in significant areas of international law. There are four European judges from each group. From the first list were elected: Maureen Harding Clark of Ireland, aged 57, Adrian Fulford from the UK, aged 50, Claude Jorda from France, aged 65, and Gheorghios Pikis from Cyprus, aged 66. From the second group the following were elected: Hans-Peter Kaul from Germany, aged 60, Erkki Kourula, from Finland, aged 54, Mauro Politi from Italy, aged 58, and Anita Usacka from Latvia, aged 50. Until the Court, which has a permanent character, will have established a code of conduct for the judges in their relations with the press, no statements shall be made by the judges themselves. All that remains to be done before the entry into function of the new International Penal Court is the election of the Procurator General, whose appointment is expected to take place between 21 and 23 April, in the course of the Assembly of the participating States.