#court #rejects #Myanmars #challenge #genocide #case
The United Nations’ highest court on Friday ruled that a landmark case accusing military-ruled Myanmar of genocide against the Rohingya Muslim minority can go ahead.
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague has dismissed all of Myanmar’s objections to a 2019 case by the West African state of The Gambia.
The decision paves the way for full court hearings into allegations of a bloody crackdown on the Rohingya in Buddhist-majority Myanmar in 2017.
“The Court finds that it has jurisdiction to hear the application submitted by the Republic of The Gambia and that the application is admissible,” said International Court of Justice President Joan Donoghue.
Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya fled the Southeast Asian country during the operation five years ago, bringing with them harrowing reports of murder, rape and arson.
Around 850,000 Rohingya languish in camps in neighboring Bangladesh, while another 600,000 Rohingya remain in Myanmar’s southwestern Rakhine state.
Gambian Justice Minister Dawda Jallow told reporters outside the court that he was “delighted that the court has delivered justice”.
Several dozen Rohingya activists demonstrated outside the court during the sentencing hearing.
– “Great Moment for Justice” –
“This decision is a great moment for justice for the Rohingya and for all the people of Burma,” said Tun Khin, President of the Burmese Rohingya Organization UK, referring to the country by its former name.
“We are pleased that this landmark genocidal trial can finally begin in earnest.”
Myanmar’s representative, Attorney General Thida Oo, said her country is now looking forward to “finding the best way to protect our people and our country.”
The mainly Muslim Gambia filed the case in November 2019 alleging Myanmar’s treatment of the Rohingya violated the 1948 UN Genocide Convention.
Myanmar was originally represented before the ICJ by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, but she was ousted as a civilian leader in a coup last year and is now in custody.
Myanmar had argued for a number of reasons that the court had no jurisdiction over the matter and should dismiss the case while it was still in its early stages.
But the judges unanimously rejected Myanmar’s argument that The Gambia was acting as a “proxy” of the 57-nation Organization for Islamic Cooperation in the case.
Only states, not organizations, may submit cases to the ICJ, which has been adjudicating disputes between states since shortly after World War II.
– ‘Brutality and Cruelty’ –
They also unanimously rejected Myanmar’s claims that The Gambia could not bring the case because it was not a direct party to the alleged genocide and that Myanmar had opted out of a relevant part of the Genocide Convention.
Finally, they rejected Myanmar’s claim by a score of 15-1 that there was no formal dispute at the time Gambia filed the case and that the court therefore had no jurisdiction.
However, it could be years before full hearings and a final verdict are reached in the case.
“Actions are being taken against the military and its brutality and cruelty. And that gives us hope for our suffering,” a Rohingya resident in Myanmar’s northern Rakhine state, who asked not to be identified, told AFP.
A Rohingya woman living in a displaced persons camp near Sittwe, the capital of Rakhine state, added: “This is not only good for us (Rohingya) but also for the rest of the people of Myanmar who are among the hands of the Myanmar military.”
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in March that the Myanmar military’s violence against the Rohingya amounted to genocide.
The International Criminal Court, a war crimes tribunal based in The Hague, has also launched an investigation into violence against the Rohingya.
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