Rohingya

The International Court of Justice is deciding if Myanmar committed genocide against the Rohingya in 2017 military crackdown.

An international court case accusing Myanmar of committing genocide against its mostly Muslim Rohingya minority is “flawed and unfounded”, the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs says.

In a statement published by state media on Wednesday, Myanmar’s military government hit out at the genocide case, which has been brought to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, Netherlands, by The Gambia.

“The allegations made by The Gambia are flawed and unfounded in fact and law,” the Foreign Ministry said.

“Biased reports, based on unreliable evidence, cannot make up for truth,” it said.

Myanmar’s military rulers, who seized power in 2021, are cooperating with the ICJ case “in good faith” in a sign of respect for international law, the statement added.

The Gambia filed the case against Myanmar at the ICJ, also known as the World Court, in 2019, two years after the country’s military launched an offensive that forced about 750,000 Rohingya from their homes, mostly into neighbouring Bangladesh.

Survivors of the military operation recounted mass killings, rapes and arson attacks. Today, about 1.17 million Rohingya live crammed into dilapidated refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh.

On the opening day of the trial on Monday, Gambian Justice Minister Dawda Jallow told the court the Rohingya “have been targeted for destruction” in Myanmar.

Lawyers for military-ruled Myanmar will begin their court response on Friday.

Included ‘genocidal acts’

The trial is the first genocide case the ICJ has taken up in full in more than a decade, and its outcome will have repercussions beyond Myanmar, likely affecting South Africa’s petition against Israel over its genocidal war in Gaza. The hearings will span three weeks.

The human rights chief of the United Nations at the time of the crackdown in Myanmar called it a “textbook example of ethnic cleansing”, and a UN fact-finding mission concluded that the military’s 2017 offensive had included “genocidal acts”. But authorities in Myanmar rejected the report, claiming its military offensive was a legitimate counterterrorism campaign in response to attacks by Rohingya armed groups.

Wednesday’s statement by Myanmar’s Foreign Ministry did not use the word Rohingya, instead referring to “persons from Rakhine state”.

The Rohingya are not recognised as an official minority in Myanmar, which denies them citizenship despite many having roots in the country stretching back centuries.

A final decision in the Rohingya genocide case could take months or even years, and while the ICJ has no means of enforcing its decisions, a ruling in favour of The Gambia would likely place more political pressure on Myanmar.

The Southeast Asian nation is currently holding phased elections that have been criticised by the UN, some Western countries and human rights groups as neither free nor fair.

The United Nations’s top court is set to open a landmark case accusing Myanmar of committing genocide against its mostly Muslim Rohingya minority.

The trial on Monday is the first genocide case that the International Court of Justice (ICJ) will take up in full in more than a decade, and its outcome will have repercussions beyond Myanmar, likely affecting South Africa’s petition against Israel over its genocidal war on Gaza.

The hearings will start at 09:00 GMT on Monday and span three weeks.

The Gambia filed the case against Myanmar at the ICJ, also known as the World Court, in 2019, two years after the country’s military launched an offensive that forced some 750,000 Rohingya from their homes and into neighbouring Bangladesh.

The refugees recounted mass killings, rape and arson attacks.

A UN fact-finding mission at the time concluded that the 2017 offensive had included “genocidal acts”. But authorities in Myanmar rejected the report, saying its military offensive was a legitimate counterterrorism campaign in response to attacks by alleged Rohingya armed groups.

“The case is likely to ‍set critical precedents for how genocide is defined and how it can be proven, and how violations can be remedied,” Nicholas Koumjian, head of the UN’s Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar, told the Reuters news agency.

‘Renewed hope’

In Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar, Rohingya refugees said they hoped the genocide case would help bring justice.

“We want justice and peace,” said 37-year-old Janifa Begum, a mother of two. “Our women lost their dignity when the military junta launched the eviction. They burned villages, killed men, and women became victims of widespread violence.”

Others said they hoped the case would bring them real change, even though the ICJ has no way to enforce any judgement it might make.

“I hope the ICJ will bring some solace to the deep wounds we are still carrying,” said Mohammad Sayed Ullah, 33, a former teacher and now a member of the United Council of Rohingya, a refugee organisation.

“The perpetrators must be held accountable and punished,” he said. “The sooner and fairer the trial is, the better the outcome will be… then the repatriation process may begin.”

Wai Wai Nu, the head of Myanmar’s Women’s Peace Network, said the start of the trial “delivers renewed hope to Rohingya that our decades-long suffering may finally end”.

“Amid ongoing violations against the Rohingya, the world must stand firm in the pursuit of justice and a path toward ending impunity in Myanmar and restoring our rights.”

The hearings at the ICJ will mark the first time that Rohingya victims of the alleged atrocities will be heard by an international court, although those sessions will be closed to the public and the media for sensitivity and privacy reasons.

“If the ICJ finds Myanmar responsible under the Genocide Convention, it would mark a historic step in holding a state legally accountable for genocide,” said Legal Action Worldwide (LAW), a group that advocates for Rohingya rights.

Separate ICC case

During the preliminary hearings in the ICJ case in 2019, Myanmar’s then-leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, rejected The Gambia’s accusations of genocide as “incomplete and misleading”. She was later toppled by the military in a coup in 2021.

The power grab plunged Myanmar into chaos, with the military’s violent crackdown on pro-democracy protests sparking a nationwide armed rebellion.

While Myanmar’s military continues to deny the accusations of genocide, the opposition National Unity Government (NUG), established by elected lawmakers after the 2021 coup, said it has “accepted and welcomed” the jurisdiction of the ICJ, adding that it has “withdrawn all preliminary objections” previously submitted on the case.

In a statement ahead of the hearing, the NUG acknowledged the government’s failures, which it said “enabled grave atrocities” to take place against minority groups. It also acknowledged the name Rohingya, which the previous elected government, including Aung San Suu Kyi, had refused to do.

“We are committed to ensuring such crimes are never repeated,” the NUG said.

Myanmar’s military leader, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, is facing a separate arrest warrant before the International Criminal Court (ICC) for his role in the persecution of the Rohingya.

The ICC prosecution said the general “bears criminal responsibility for the crimes against humanity of deportation and persecution of the Rohingya, committed in Myanmar, and in part in Bangladesh.”

Additionally, the Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK (BROUK) has accused the military government of “intensifying genocide” against the Rohingya since taking power in 2021.

Myanmar is currently holding phased elections that have been criticised by the UN, some Western countries and human rights groups as not free or fair.

Myanmar’s election is unlikely to change the reality for more than 1M Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh who fled what the UN called ‘genocidal violence’ in Myanmar. Efforts to repatriate the Muslim minority have stalled since the junta seized power in 2021. Al Jazeera’s Tanvir Chowdhury reports from Cox’s Bazar.