Rohingyas deserve justice
The alleged genocide case against Myanmar at The Hague begins today, after the Gambia filed a lawsuit against Myanmar on November 11, accusing it of violating the UN Genocide Convention on behalf of the 57-member Organisation of Islamic Conference.
The world has not sufficiently held Myanmar to account for its genocidal acts. Very sadly, geopolitical and narrow national interests have determined the decisions of some countries who could have played a vital and effective role in the matter. And the UN itself was effective only to an extent; the Kofi Annan Advisory Commission's report and its very comprehensive recommendations were not implemented by Myanmar, ultimately resulting in no solution being reached to the crisis.
This is the first time that a court is going to be exposing Myanmar for what it has done to the Rohingyas. We are putting a lot of hope in the proceeding of the ICJ—and that those responsible will be held accountable for their crimes against the Rohingyas. We also hope that our government's delegation and the assistance it provides to the Gambia for this case will have the weight that it deserves.
The Netherlands and Canada have said that they are going to provide information to assist the Gambia in this case. Likewise, we would like to urge other countries to step up and do the same.
The very egregious crimes committed by Myanmar against the Rohingyas are, by now, very well and widely documented. It would be a travesty should those responsible for such serious crimes be allowed to walk away from being held accountable for them. We hope the ICJ and the international community recognise this and work to ensure that the Rohingyas can finally get their long-awaited justice.
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