January 24, 2020

Andrew Campbell 

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) announced on January 23 that the panel of 17 judges unanimously voted to order Myanmar to impose emergency measures within its power to stop further violence and genocide against Rohingya Muslims.

An estimated 1 million Rohingya Muslims lived in the Rakhine state of Myanmar at the start of 2017. But Myanmar's government denies their citizenship, and instead recognizes them as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. Since August 25 in 2017 Rohingya refugees have fled Myanmar for Bangladesh after military troops burned hundreds of villages, attacking and killing civilians.

According to the UN International Independent Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar, Myanmar’s military troops had committed extremely wicked and cruel acts against the Rohingya, including murder, rape, and arson. During Myanmar’s 2017 campaign of ethnic cleansing, more than 740,000 Rohingya refugees were forced to flee to Bangladesh. The world condemned Myanmar’s negligence and human rights violation.

On November 11, 2019, the Gambia along with the backing of the 57 members of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation applied to the world court against Myanmar alleging abuses by Myanmar’s military in Rakhine State against the Rohingya. The Gambia’s application accused Myanmar of violating the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide and urgently sought provisional measures from the world court. Prior to January 23 ruling, the ICJ had also held hearings on Gambia’s provisional measures request in December of 2019.

Meanwhile, in September 2019, it was reported more than 600,000 Rohingya remained in Myanmar. The IJC warned that they might risk a greater threat of genocide than the past. Presiding judge Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf ordered Myanmar to implement the UN’s top court’s ruling and make a report about it within 4 months.

Photo:Webshot.