The International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Friday July 22nd, 2022, rejected Myanmar’s preliminary objections to the case brought by Gambia under the international Genocide Convention.
The state of Myanmar has been accused of committing genocide against the ethnic Rohingya population in Rakhine State.
Gambia filed the case before the ICJ in November 2019 alleging that the Myanmar military committed the genocidal acts of “killing, causing serious bodily and mental harm, inflicting conditions that are calculated to bring about physical destruction, imposing measures to prevent births, and forcible transfers … intended to destroy the Rohingya group in whole or in part,” the Human Rights Watch reported.
“The ICJ decision opens the door toward an overdue reckoning with the Myanmar military’s murderous campaign against the Rohingya population,” said Elaine Pearson, acting Asia director at Human Rights Watch.
In February 2022, the ICJ heard Myanmar’s four objections challenging the court’s jurisdiction and Gambia’s legal standing to file the case, as well as Gambia’s response.
In its ruling, the court unanimously rejected three of Myanmar’s objections, and rejected one by a vote of 15 to 1. The judgment affirmed that “the applicant in this case is the Gambia”; that “a dispute relating to the interpretation, application and fulfillment of the Genocide Convention existed between the parties at the time of the filing of the application by The Gambia”; and that “The Gambia, as a state party to the Genocide Convention, has standing to invoke the responsibility of Myanmar for the alleged breaches of its obligations under Articles I, III, IV and V of the Convention.”
According to HRWI, by rejecting the preliminary objections, the ICJ is allowing the case to proceed on the merits to examine Gambia’s genocide allegations against Myanmar. Myanmar will now have to submit its response to Gambia’s main arguments, filed in October 2020, detailing its case.
Reacting to Friday’s ruling, the Ministry of Justice wrote in a press release that The Gambia welcomes the decision of the International Court of Justice and now looks forward to the merits phase of the case. It stated Gambia’s commitment “to pursuing justice and accountability at home and abroad”.