Rohingya refugees stage a ‘Go home campaign’ rally demanding repatriation to at Kutupalong Rohingya camp in Cox’s Bazar on June 19, 2022. (Photo:AFP)
By UCA News reporter
July 13 2022
Junta claims court has no jurisdiction and must throw case out before it moves on to substantive hearings.
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) will deliver its judgment on preliminary objections in the Rohingya genocide case raised by Myanmar’s military junta.
The main judicial organ of the United Nations held public hearings concerning the application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in The Hague from Feb. 21-28.
Myanmar’s delegation, which replaced deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi who defended the case in December 2019, argued that the court has no jurisdiction over the case and must throw it out before it moves on to substantive hearings.
In a press release on July11, the ICJ said it will deliver its judgment on the preliminary objections raised by Myanmar on July 22.
A public sitting of the ICJ will take place at 3pm local time at the Peace Palace in The Hague during which the president of the court will read out its decision.
The National Unity Government (NUG), the shadow administration established by ousted lawmakers, activists and ethnic groups, said the junta was not the proper representative of Myanmar at the ICJ.
“The court found there was prima facie evidence of breaches of the convention”
The NUG dismissed the junta’s preliminary objections as hearings for these should be called off and the court should quickly move the hearing of the substantive case.
The case was brought by the Gambia, a Muslim-majority African state, which accused Myanmar of breaching the Genocide Convention.
The complaint is one of the first attempts to use the international justice system to help the estimated 740,000 Rohingya refugees who fled Myanmar following the military crackdown in Rakhine state in 2017.
In January 2020, the ICJ ordered Myanmar to carry out emergency provision measures and to respect the requirements of the 1948 Genocide Convention.
The court found there was prima facie evidence of breaches of the convention and ruled that the estimated 600,000 Rohingya remaining in Myanmar were “extremely vulnerable” to violence at the hands of the military.
A UN fact-finding mission reported that “genocidal acts” carried out in Rakhine by Myanmar’s military in 2017 resulted in more than 740,000 Rohingya fleeing to Bangladesh.
International pressure continues to mount on the military leaders, including coup leader Min Aung Hlaing, to be tried at the ICC over rights abuses against peaceful protesters and civilians across the country.
More than 2,000 people including children have been killed and over 14,000 people have been detained by the junta since the Feb. 1, 2021 military coup. – UCA News
