Rohingya Genocide: Myanmar State Counselor Leaves for Netherlands

Yangon, December 9, 2019:

Myanmar State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi who is leading a legal team contesting a Rohingya genocide lawsuit left for The Hague, Netherlands, to defend the case filed at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) by Gambia on behalf of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).

According to reports, representatives from both countries will appear before the court from Dec 10 to 12 for a series of oral proceedings.

The Gambia on the month of November filed the case on behalf of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation at the World Court. In the case, the Gambia had accused of Myanmar of genocide against Rohingya Muslims.

The team led by the State Counselor left Myanmar on Sunday morning. Military representatives would join the team. The State Counselor was accompanied by two Union ministers and officials from the Union Attorney-General’s Office.

According to reports, the hearing will not consider whether Myanmar is guilty of genocide. Rather it will focus on The Gambia’s request that provisional measures be taken against the country to prevent further acts of genocide.

It is expected that the ICJ may announce any provisional measures regarding the case by this week. However, legal experts say that ICJ normally takes years to reach a decision in a case.

Over 700,000 Rohingya fled Myanmar to neighboring Bangladesh in late 2017 after the government’s security forces launched clearance operations in northern Rakhine State. This came in response to a series of attacks by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army on police outposts in the area.

Meanwhile, UN investigators said the operations had “genocidal intent”. But both the Myanmar government and military have denied the accusations.

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