Owen Bowcott Legal affairs correspondent
@owenbowcott
Thu 23 Jan 2020
Momentous pronouncement follows Hague hearing at which Aung San Suu Kyi gave evidence
Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh take part in prayers to mark the second anniversary of their exodus from Myanmar. Photograph: Rafiquar Rahman/Reuters
The United Nations’ highest tribunal is to deliver its decision on whether emergency measures are required to prevent Myanmar conducting genocide against its Rohingya Muslim minority.
The momentous pronouncement on Thursday follows a three-day hearing at the international court of justice in The Hague last month at which the Nobel peace prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi defended her country against accusations of systematic human rights abuses and war crimes.
The ruling on the need for “provisional measures” will be read out at 10am local time by the court’s president, Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf, and may take more than an hour to deliver. The hearing will be broadcast live on the ICJ website.
The case was brought by the Gambia, a predominantly Muslim west African state that alleges Myanmar has breached the 1948 genocide convention enacted after the Holocaust. It argues that the violence is continuing.
Gambia’s attorney general and justice minister, Abubacarr Marie Tambadou, told the court in December : “Another genocide is unfolding right before our eyes yet we do nothing to stop it. This is a stain on our collective conscience. It’s not only the state of Myanmar that is on trial here, it’s our collective humanity that is being put on trial.” Q&A
Who are the Rohingya and what happened to them in Myanmar? Show
The complaint is one of the first attempts to use the international justice system to help the estimated 730,000 Rohingya refugees who fled Myanmar following army clearance operations in Rakhine province during 2017.
Link :https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jan/23/international-court-to-rule-on-rohingya-genocide-safeguards
Lawyers for the Gambia have called on the ICJ to impose protective provisional measures to prevent further killings and destruction in Myanmar. The case was heard by a panel of 17 international judges, including one each nominated by Myanmar and the Gambia.
Six of Myanmar’s most senior army officers have been accused of genocide by a UN fact-finding mission and recommended for criminal prosecution.
Aung San Suu Kyi’s decision to attend the court in person astounded human rights groups. Once an international icon representing peaceful defiance of military dictatorship, the 74-year-old has seen her reputation plummet as she repeatedly defended her country’s army in the aftermath of the Rohingya exodus.
She urged ICJ judges to dismiss allegations that Myanmar committed genocide and instead allow the country’s court martial system to deal with any human rights abuses.
A Myanmar government-appointed panel, the Independent Commission of Enquiry, said on Monday it had found no evidence of genocide. Rohingya leaders have branded the probe a “whitewash”.
The ICJ only hears cases brought by one state against another. It has jurisdiction to hear complaints of breaches of the Genocide Convention even if the aggrieved state is not directly affected by violence or refugees.
The court can use its legal powers to impose provisional measures on member states in relation to their obligations under the convention. The court could order Myanmar to end an ongoing genocide, prevent genocide occurring in the future, stop the destruction of evidence and take steps to preserve evidence of genocide.
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