On Thursday, Thomas Lubanga Dyilo, a Congolese citizen accused of conscripting under-15s to fight in a particularly nasty episode of his country's civil war, will be led into a Hague trial chamber and into the world's history books.

If a panel of three judges agrees with Luis Moreno-Ocampo, the prosecutor, that there is a case to be tried, Mr Lubanga will become the first man to face justice in the International Criminal Court, a dramatic experiment in globalco-operation.