Gambia’s Fatou Bensouda was sworn in Friday as the International Criminal Court’s new chief prosecutor, becoming the first African and woman to preside over the Hague-based tribunal.

Bensouda has rejected criticism of double standards in the ICC’s prosecutions that have so far only targeted Africa.

Fifty-one-year-old Bensouda becomes only the second chief prosecutor of the nine-year-old International Criminal Court (ICC). She takes over from Luis Moreno-Ocampo of Argentina, after serving as his number two for years.

In interviews, Bensouda has promised continuity – a continuity that human rights expert Anthony Dworkin, of the European Council on Foreign Relations, says the young court badly needs.