The minority Rohingya community was “targeted for destruction”, the UN's highest court heard on Monday on the first day of a genocide case against Myanmar.
The predominantly Muslim West African country of The Gambia filed the case at the International Court of Justice – also known as the World Court – in 2019. Dawda Jallow, The Gambia's Justice Minister, said the case had the “full backing and support” of the 57-member Organisation of Islamic Co-operation.
“We also stand in solidarity with 11 intervening states who have urged the court to interpret the convention in a meaningful way, in the manner advanced by The Gambia,” he said.
It is the first genocide case the ICJ will hear in full in more than a decade. The outcome will have repercussions beyond Myanmar and is likely to affect South Africa’s Gaza genocide case at the ICJ against Israel.
Myanmar has denied accusations of genocide. Its armed forces launched an offensive in 2017 that forced at least 730,000 Rohingya from their homes and into neighbouring Bangladesh, where they recounted killings, rapes and arson.
A UN fact-finding mission concluded the 2017 military offensive had included “genocidal acts”.
“It is not about esoteric issues of international law. It is about real people, real stories and real group of human beings, the Rohingya of Myanmar,” Mr Jallow said. He added that Myanmar had “turned their lives into a nightmare, subjecting them to the most horrific violence and destruction one could imagine.” Three witnesses are expected to testify in a closed hearing next week.
Speaking after Mr Jallow, British lawyer Philippe Sands introduced the legal context for the dispute. “Myanmar suggests that its crimes against the Rohingya, and they are crimes, cannot be characterised as genocide. Why? Because simply too few Rohingya were subjected to abusive acts. The argument is fallacious,” he told the court.
Mr Sands argued that the 1951 Genocide Convention does not establish a minimum threshold in the number of killings. Article 2 of the Convention defines genocide as the intention to destroy, in whole or in part, a group of people, by implementing any of five acts, including killings, but also causing serious bodily or mental harm.
“The kinds of acts falling with this category are sadly diverse,” Mr Sands said. “In this case, they include acts of sexual and gender based violence, acts causing physical and psychological harm and acts of forced displacement.”
Mr Sands also pushed back against Myanmar's argument that clearance operations targeting the Rohingya were mere counter-terrorism operations. “It is perfectly possible for there to have been a counterterror motive behind some of Myanmar's actions, but at the same time, in the course of those operations, a genocidal intent also existed and prevailed, and in some form propelled the actions that were taken.”
In total, the hearings at the ICJ will span three weeks. The ICJ is the UN's highest court and deals with disputes between states.
Myanmar has been in further turmoil since 2021, when the military toppled the elected civilian government and violently suppressed pro-democracy protests, sparking a nationwide armed rebellion.
The country is currently holding phased elections that have been criticised by the UN, some western countries and human rights groups as not free or fair.
