World Court allows Gambia genocide case against Myanmar over Rohingya

THE HAGUE • The World Court yesterday rejected Myanmar's objections to a genocide case over its treatment of the Muslim Rohingya minority, paving the way for the case to be heard in full.

Myanmar, now ruled by a military junta that seized power last year, had argued that Gambia, which brought the suit, had no standing to do so at the top United Nations court, formally known as the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

But presiding Judge Joan Donoghue said the 13-judge panel found that all members of the 1948 Genocide Convention can and are obliged to act to prevent genocide, and the court has jurisdiction in the case. "Gambia, as a state party to the Genocide convention, has standing," she said, reading a summary of the ruling.

The tribunal "finds that it has jurisdiction... to entertain the application filed by the Republic of the Gambia", said Judge Donoghue.

The court will now proceed to hear the merits of the case, a process that will take years.

Gambia, which took up the cause after its then attorney-general visited a refugee camp in Bangladesh, argues that all countries have a duty to uphold the 1948 Genocide Convention. It is backed by the 57-nation Organisation for Islamic Cooperation in a suit aiming to hold Myanmar accountable and prevent further bloodshed.

A separate UN fact-finding mission concluded that a 2017 military campaign by Myanmar that drove 730,000 Rohingya into neighbouring Bangladesh had included "genocidal acts".

While the court's decisions are binding and countries generally follow them, it has no way of enforcing them.

In a 2020 provisional decision, it ordered Myanmar to protect the Rohingya from genocide, a legal victory that established their right under international law as a protected minority.

However, Rohingya groups and rights activists say there has been no meaningful attempt to end their systemic persecution and what Amnesty International has called a system of apartheid.

Rohingya are still denied citizenship and freedom of movement in Myanmar. Tens of thousands have now been confined to squalid displacement camps for a decade.

The junta has imprisoned democratic leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who defended Myanmar personally in 2019 hearings in The Hague.

REUTERS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE