By Anjali Sharma
UNITED NATIONS – UN International Court of Justice on Monday opened public hearings in a landmark case brought by the Gambia against Myanmar, alleged violations of the Genocide Convention over the military’s treatment of the Rohingya Muslim minority.
The proceedings held at the Peace Palace in The Hague, marked the start of the merits phase in the case, after years of preliminary legal arguments, ICJ said in a press release issued in New York.
ICJ judges will hear oral arguments from both sides, examine witnesses and experts, and consider whether Myanmar breached its obligations under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, to which the country is a party.
Judge Iwasawa Yuji, President of the Court, outlined a detailed schedule that includes two rounds of pleadings by Gambia and Myanmar, as well as closed sessions to hear testimony from witnesses called by the applicant State.
Attorney General and Minister of Justice Dawda Jallow was speaking on behalf of Gambia told the court that his country brought the case “after reviewing credible reports of the most brutal and vicious violations imaginable” committed against the Rohingya, a Muslim minority in Myanmar’s Rakhine province.
“By all measures, this case is not about esoteric issues of international law,” Mr. Jallow said. “It is about real people, real stories, and a real group of human beings.”
Gambia filed its application in November 2019, accused Myanmar of breaching the Genocide Convention through acts allegedly committed during so-called “clearance operations” carried out by the Myanmar military, or Tatmadaw.
Those operations escalated sharply in 2017, prompting more than 700,000 Rohingya to flee to neighboring Bangladesh after widespread killings, sexual violence, village burnings and other abuses. Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, the former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, described the situation as a “textbook example of ethnic cleansing.”
UN Human Rights Council-mandated fact-finding mission said in 2018 that it had reasonable grounds to conclude that serious crimes under international law, including genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, had been committed.
Over a million Rohingya remain living as refugees in camps in Bangladesh, while countless others are displaced or trapped inside Myanmar in dire conditions.
In January 2020, the Court unanimously ordered provisional measures, directing Myanmar to take all steps within its power to prevent genocidal acts against the Rohingya, preserve evidence, and report regularly to the Court on its compliance.
Myanmar challenged the Court’s jurisdiction, but in July 2022 the judges ruled that they were competent to hear the case.
Over 11 States also made written submissions in support of Gambia’s interpretation of the Genocide Convention.
Mr. Jallow addressed the judges said Myanmar remained trapped in “a cycle of atrocities and impunity,” noting that no one had been held accountable for crimes against the Rohingya.
He pointed to the February 2021 military coup, which overthrew the civilian government and plunged Myanmar into renewed nationwide conflict.
“Accountability is imperative,” he said.
He warned that impunity risks the repetition of atrocity crimes.
Myanmar will present its arguments later this week.
The Court’s final judgment could take months or longer after the hearings conclude, will be legally binding.
The International Court of Justice is the UN principal judicial organ. It settles legal disputes between States and gives advisory opinions on questions of international law.
ICJ said that unlike criminal courts, it does not try individuals but determines State responsibility.
