A landmark legal case has been lodged at the United Nations’ (UN) highest court in The Hague, where Gambia is accusing Myanmar of committing genocide against the Muslim Rohingya minority.
The International Court of Justice is set to hear three weeks of proceedings, which will include testimony from victims of alleged atrocities committed during a military crackdown in 2017.
The Gambia argues that Myanmar breached its obligations under the Genocide Convention when its armed forces launched operations against the Rohingya population in Rakhine State. Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya were forced to flee to neighbouring Bangladesh during the violence.
A UN fact-finding mission in 2018 concluded that the military campaign involved acts consistent with genocide, citing mass killings, widespread sexual violence and the systematic destruction of Rohingya villages.
Myanmar has repeatedly rejected accusations of genocide, maintaining that its military actions were aimed at combating insurgency.
–ChannelAfrica–
