WSJ: Myanmar Accused of Genocide Against Rohingyas at U.N. Court

By

Feliz Solomon

Updated Nov. 11, 2019 11:35 am ET

Gambia filed a lawsuit Monday at the United Nations’ top court accusing Myanmar of genocide against Rohingya Muslims, a legal challenge that seeks to build on extensive investigations by U.N. officials, human-rights organizations and some governments that allege the country committed atrocities against the minority group.

A brutal crackdown by Myanmar’s security forces in 2017 forced 700,000 Rohingya to flee across the border into neighboring Bangladesh, where they continue to live in camps. Refugees arrived with accounts of gang rape, mass killings and entire villages being burned to the ground. Myanmar denied it committed human-rights violations and said it was fighting terrorism after an attack by Rohingya militants.

Gambia, a small Western African country, filed the case at the International Court of Justice, or ICJ, on behalf of the 57-nation Organization of Islamic Cooperation, a body that says it seeks to protect the interests of Muslims. The suit asks the court to order that Myanmar cease and desist from all acts of genocide and to punish those who are responsible for the alleged crimes, including senior government officials and military officers, according to a statement by Foley Hoag LLP, a law firm representing the country.

The suit also calls for provisional measures “to stop Myanmar’s genocidal conduct immediately, in order to prevent further harm to the Rohingya people while the case is pending.” It was brought under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, which both Gambia and Myanmar are parties to.

A spokesman for the Myanmar government didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

The ICJ is different from the International Criminal Court, which hears cases against individuals for crimes such as genocide and whose prosecutor is looking into Myanmar’s alleged deportation of Rohingya to Bangladesh. The ICJ settles cases between states.

The Rohingya are a minority ethnic group from Myanmar’s westernmost state of Rakhine. The group has been persecuted for decades in Buddhist-majority Myanmar, where they have been deprived of citizenship. In August 2017, the Myanmar military launched what it called clearance operations in response to attacks on security outposts by Rohingya insurgents.

Watch :

A Rohingya Villager's Forensic Quest for Justice

▶ 4:46

Ahammed Hossain, a Rohingya village leader who survived one of Myanmar’s biggest massacres, has investigated and listed crimes allegedly committed by the military against his people. “If we get justice, we might be happy again,” he said. Video: Daniel Epstein (Originally reported Oct. 19, 2018)

A 2018 report by the U.S. State Department called Myanmar’s actions “well planned and coordinated,” but stopped short of labeling it genocide. A U.N. fact-finding mission said the military systematically targeted civilians and called for top military leaders to be prosecuted for genocide.

Human-rights advocates welcomed Gambia’s lawsuit as a step toward accountability. Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director for Human Rights Watch, called it “a surprising yet welcome scenario.”

Gambia was “demonstrating moral courage to take Myanmar to the ICJ after watching many big states spend too much time wringing their hands about what to do,” Mr. Robertson said. “Now nations around the world need to rally around and support this complaint, and finally describe in a proper fashion what has happened to the Rohingya—anything less is totally unacceptable.”