On December 10, 2019, the International Court of Justice (the ICJ), the principal judicial organ of the United Nations, begun a hearing in the case of the alleged genocidal atrocities in Myanmar. The hearing was focused on provisional measures only, as requested by the Gambia, including measures within the Burmese government’s power to “prevent all acts that amount to or contribute to the crime of genocide” and “not destroy or render inaccessible any evidence related to the events.” The case was initiated by The Gambia on November 11, 2019, a few days after The Gambia made the promise at the UN General Assembly. The Gambia’s application alleges that the Government of Myanmar has been complic
Former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein condemns Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi as complicit in the atrocities committed upon the Rohingya Source: CNN https://edition.cnn.com/videos/world/2019/12/12/intv-amanpour-aung-san-suu-kyi-zeid-raad-al-hussein-rohingya.cnn
Nearly 100 Rohingya appeared in a Myanmar court Wednesday after being arrested for trying to flee persecution, their lawyer said, as leader Aung San Suu Kyi addressed the UN's top court to deny allegations of a genocidal campaign against the ethnic minority. One-by-one, the weary detainees stepped down from a police van at the courthouse in the western Myanmar city of Pathein. Their crime was to leave their home townships without permission from authorities. Rohingya in Rakhine state live under tight restrictions with little access to healthcare, education or livelihoods in conditions Amnesty International brands as "apartheid". For years Rohingya have taken to boats, trains and buses in att
COX’S BAZAR, BANGLADESH – Rohingya refugees accused former Myanmar pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi of lying to the International Court of Justice in testimony Wednesday in which she denied that her country’s armed forces were guilty of genocide against the Muslim minority group. Suu Kyi, who is now Myanmar’s leader, told the court that the exodus of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims to neighboring Bangladesh was the unfortunate result of a battle with insurgents. She denied that the army had killed civilians, raped women and torched houses in 2017. Critics describe the actions by the army as a deliberate campaign of ethnic cleansing and genocide that forced more than 700,000 Rohi
Demonstrators protest the Citizenship Amendment Bill in New Delhi on Dec. 10. (Adnan Abidi/Reuters) NEW DELHI — Lawmakers in India on Wednesday passed a fundamental change to its citizenship law to include religion as a criterion for nationality for the first time, deepening concerns that a country founded on secular ideals is becoming a Hindu state that treats Muslims as second-class citizens. The new legislation creates a path to citizenship for migrants who belong to several South Asian religions but pointedly excludes Islam, the faith practiced by 200 million Indian citizens. The measure was approved by a majority of the upper house of India’s Parliament in a final vote late Wednesday. I
In unprecedented move, former human rights icon defends Myanmar generals at ICJ over killings, rape and displacement. Aung San Suu Kyi has shocked critics by travelling to The Hague to head her country's delegation [Peter Dejong/The Associated Press] Nobel peace prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi has defended Myanmar's military against genocide allegations made at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) amid accusations of mass killings, rape and expulsion of the Rohingya Muslim minority. The Gambia, a small West African country, filed the case at the ICJ in The Hague, the United Nations' highest court, alleging it violated the 1948 Genocide Convention. "The Gambia has placed an incomplete and m
Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya have escaped from Myanmar across the Naf River into Bangladesh and by boat. Thousands have drowned in the Andaman Sea. Originally presented on December 4, 2015 in Krakow, Poland at a conference on Human Rights, Violence and Dictatorship Abstract: Preventing Genocide against the Rohingya Muslim Minority in Myanmar Although Myanmar appeared to make positive steps towards the realization of its human rights obligations since the end of a lengthy military rule, General Thein Sein marked a new era of overt discrimination against ethnic and religious minorities. The national authorities are both perpetrating gross human rights abuses and failing to hold violators
Rohingya refugees waited to board boats to flee to Bangladesh, on the Myanmar side of the Naf River in September 2017. Credit...Adam Dean for The New York Times She could have stayed home. Once a champion for human rights, she is now expected to argue at The Hague that the world has been deceived by report after report of atrocities against Rohingya Muslims. Nobody is forcing Daw Aung San Suu Kyi — she of the Nobel Peace Prize and fragrant flowers in her hair — to stride into the International Court of Justice on Tuesday at The Hague, where she will lead Myanmar’s defense against accusations of genocide. After all, Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi spent decades battling the same military generals accuse
Ro Nay San Lwin and Maung Zarni tell Al Jazeera they fear for their lives but will not be 'silenced' by online abuse. Lwin, left, and Zarni have been in exile outside Myanmar for the past 18 and 30 years respectively [DW News/Anadolu] Two prominent Rohingya campaigners say they are facing increased online abuse, including death threats, for their work, with the latest warning coming from the grandson of former Myanmar ruler Ne Win who called for their abduction. Ro Nay San Lwin, a prominent Rohingya activist based in Germany, and Maung Zarni, an academic living in exile in the United Kingdom, have told Al Jazeera that they fear for their lives but will not be "silenced" by the online harassm
The hardline approach of the new president and a failed reconciliation process threaten to stir ethnic tensions. Sri Lanka's President Gotabaya Rajapaksa gestures while addressing the nation at the presidential swearing-in ceremony in Anuradhapura on November 18, 2019 [File: Dinuka Liyanawatte/Reuters] Two weeks after the election of hardliner Gotabaya Rajapaksa in Sri Lanka, the prospects for justice and reconciliation between the different communities on the island lie in tatters. The victory of Gota, as he is commonly known, sent shockwaves across the Tamil-dominated northeast - where memories of his brother Mahinda Rajapaksa's brutal presidency, marked by mass atrocities and enforced dis
Rohingya refugee camp in Bangladesh 2016 credit: UN OHCHR Report of OHCHR mission to Bangladesh Interviews with Rohingyas fleeing from Myanmar since 9 October 2016 FLASH REPORT Originally published: 3 February 2017 For PDF of the UN OHCHR Report see: https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Countries/MM/FlashReport3Feb2017.pdf Contents 1. Introduction and methodology 3 2. Context 5 3. Geographic scope 7 4. Statistical analysis of the interviews 9 5. Security forces and other armed elements operating in the area 11 6. Extrajudicial and summary executions or other killings 13 6.1. Death due to random firing 14 6.2. Death due to shooting at close r
