UN World Court begins landmark hearings on Rohingya genocide case against Myanmar

The UN World Court has started a crucial hearing in regards to the genocide case brought against Myanmar by Gambia. These hearings are set to take place over the next three weeks at the International Court of Justice located in Hague.

The court will be listening to both parties' arguments as well as testimony from witnesses and experts. This is due to an accusation made by Gambia that Myanmar has violated their obligation under the Convention on Genocide Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. The country of Myanmar is a party to this convention and therefore subject to it's laws.

The hearings started with President Yuji, Iwasawa of the Court explaining the detailed schedule in which these proceedings will take place. There are two rounds of pleadings that will occur between Gambia and Myanmar as well as closed sessions for witness testimony called by the applicant state. All of these hearings are taking place at The Hague's Peace Palace.

Attorney General, Minister of Justice Dawda Jallow spoke on behalf of Gambia in which he said his country filed this case after reviewing credible reports of the most brutal and vicious violations imaginable that were committed against the Rohingya minority located in Myanmar's Rakhine province. He went on to say “By all measures, this case is not about esoteric issues of international law; it is about real people, real stories, and a real group of human beings.”

Gambia filed its application in November 2019 accusing Myanmar of breaching the Genocide Convention due to alleged actions that were carried out during so-called “clearance operations” by the Myanmar military. These operations began in 2017 forcing more than 700,000 Rohingya to flee neighboring Bangladesh due to widespread killings, village burnings, sexual violence and other abuses.

In January of 2020, the court unanimously ordered provisional measures directing Myanmar to take all steps within its power to prevent genocidal acts against the Rohingya. They were also required to preserve evidence and report regularly to the court on their compliance with these orders. These orders will be legally binding in the courts final judgment.

Edward Lance Arellano Lorilla

CEO / Co-Founder

Enjoy the little things in life. For one day, you may look back and realize they were the big things. Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.