Gambia Takes Lead by Filing Lawsuit against Myanmar in Rohingya Genocide Case
New Age Islam Special Correspondent
25 October
2020
Aung San Suu Kyi at ICJ
Photo courtesy: Hindu
business line/Koel Van Weel
-----
For the
last three years, Myanmar has been denying the genocide against the Rohingya
Muslims despite documentary evidences and eyewitness accounts of survivors. But
now the government of Gambia, a small Muslim-dominated country of West Africa
has taken the lead to drag the Myanmar government to the International Court of
Justice under the UN.
In November
2019, Gambia had opened its case against Myanmar in the ICJ and requested it to
start proceedings against the Myanmar government and the military to hold them
to account for the genocide of Rohingya Muslims and prevent further genocide of
the Rohingyas.
The ICJ had
found substance in the allegations made by Gambia and had decided to go ahead
with the case.
Myanmar Army deserters
confess to Rohingya killings
Photo courtesy: The Global
Herald
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In its
first hearing on December10-11, 2019, Myanmar admitted before the International
Court in The Hague that its security forces did commit atrocities against the
Rohingyas but denied the allegations of genocide.
But the ICJ
was not convinced by the arguments of the Myanmar government and on January 23,
it ordered Myanmar government to take immediate steps to prevent further acts
of genocide of Rohingya's Muslims. Myanmar has been ordered to submit report of
steps it has taken to protect the Rohingyas every six months.
It should
be noted that the Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi heads the democratic
government of Myanmar and has shamelessly denied her military's involvement in
the genocide in the ICJ. She said that her government had conducted an internal
investigation and her government would take action against the security forces
involved in any wrongdoing. Therefore, there was no need for any international
intervention.
Taking the
case further, on 23 October 2020, Gambia submitted a 500-page memorial and
another 5000 pages of supporting documents to the ICJ showing that the Myanmar
army was involved in the genocide of the Rohingya Muslims in 2017.
Tbe Myanmar government will now submit a counter-memorial to the ICJ.
Myanmar
says that the ICJ and International Criminal Court have no jurisdiction over
the issue as Myanmar is not a signatory to Rome Statute. But the ICJ contends
that it has jurisdiction over the case as Bangladesh is a party to the case.
The
Rohingyas were deported to Bangladesh by the Myanmar army and 1.2 million Rohingya
have taken shelter in Bangladesh to escape persecution in Myanmar. Bangladesh
is a member of the ICC. Therefore, Bangladesh has promised Gambia to provide
every possible support in the case.
Apart from
taking into consideration documentary evidences submitted by Gambia the
International Court of Justice relies on the findings of the Fact Finding
Commission of the UNCHR which concluded that the security forces of Myanmar had
committed the atrocities with "genocidal intent" against Rohingyas.
The Fact Finding Mission had also observed that there were reasonable grounds
to conclude to the commission of genocide against Rohingyas.
According
to reports, the Myanmar army and Buddhist militia killed more than 34000
Rohingya Muslims, 18000 girls and women were gang-raped by the army, 115,000
houses were burned down and another 113000 houses were vandalised.
Myanmar's leader Aung San Suu
Kyi attends a hearing on the second day of hearings in a case filed by Gambia
against Myanmar alleging genocide against the minority Muslim Rohingya
population, at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague,
Netherlands December 11, 2019 Reuters
-----
In another
fillip to the genocide case filed by Gambia, Canada and Netherlands have joined
Gambia seeking punishment to the perpetrators of the genocide. They have also
urged other countries to come forward to support Gambia so that genocide can be
prevented and genocide victims get justice.
In another
setback to Myanmar, two soldiers of the Myanmar Army, Myo Win Tun, 33, and Zaw
Main Tung 30 fled from the army in July this year and confessed to the killing
of Rohingyas and gang-rape of Rohingya women and burying them in mass graves in
Buthidaung and Maungdaw in Rakhine state. They confessed in a video testimonial
that they wiped out 20 villages from the map at the order of their commanders.
They also named another 17 soldiers including 6 senior commanders involved in
the genocide.
According
to reports, they have been taken to the International Court. However, the ICC
has denied custody of the two soldiers. The soldiers were probably in the
custody of the Arakan Army, an insurgent group fighting against the Myanmar
Army.
Their
testimonial is important for establishing the role of the Tatmadaw (Myanmar
Army) in the genocide as the army says it was only a 'haphazard' response by
the military to attacks by Muslim militants.
Myanmar's
army and Buddhist militia have regularly persecuted the Rohingyas leading to
their killing and displacement in large numbers. In 2012 too, the Army
crackdown along with Buddhist militia rioting against Rohingyas forced them to
flee to Bangladesh. Since the international community has not been able to do
much against Myanmar except verbal condemnation, Myanmar has been persecuting
the Rohingyas with impunity. And since China has been defending Myanmar on
Rohingya issue Myanmar feels safe and emboldened as any resolution against it
in the United Nations will be vetoed by China because China has its economic
and political interests in Myanmar. The railways of Myanmar, for example, has
been built by China. The Uighurs of China have been persecuted by China for
decades. So China can't preach Myanmar what it does not practice.
Despite the
order of the ICJ to Myanmar to prevent further genocide and atrocities against
the Rohingyas, the Myanmar army continues to perpetrate atrocities against
them. The Rohingyas have alleged that the security forces now persecute them at
the pretext of taking preventive measures against Covid-19. The security forces
beat or fine them for not wearing the mask properly or wearing an old mask.
120000 Rohingyas have been put in internment camps and they are made to work as
bonded labourers.
The
international community should rally behind Gambia to save the Rohingya Muslims
from ethnic cleansing and persecution and to bring the perpetrators to book for
the violation of the Genocide Convention.
URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-politics/gambia-takes-lead-filing-lawsuit/d/123258
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