In a historic lawsuit, 57 countries have sued south-east Asian nation Myanmar, accusing its government for carrying out Rohingya genocide at the United Nations¡¯ International Court of Justice (ICJ).
More than 7,00,000 Rohingyas, a Muslim-majority ethnic minority, have fled Myanmar since a campaign by the country's military to push them out and raze their villages began in August 2017.
Buddhist majority Myanmar has categorically denied any wrongdoing saying that the campaign was against an Islamist terrorist group.
Gambia is the latest country to file a lawsuit against Myanmar.
In particular, it charges that Myanmar is responsible for "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, [which] are genocidal in character because they are intended to destroy the Rohingya group in whole or in part."
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The tiny, mainly Muslim West African nation, lodged its lawsuit after winning the support of the Organisation for Islamic Cooperation (OIC), which has 57 member states. Only a state can file a case against another state at the ICJ.
¡°The aim is to get Myanmar to account for its action against its own people: the Rohingya¡±, Justice Minister Abubacarr Tambadou told a news conference in The Hague, where the UN court is based.
¡°It is a shame for our generation that we do nothing while genocide is unfolding right under our own eyes.¡±
Both Gambia and Myanmar are signatories to the 1948 Genocide Convention, which not only prohibits states from committing genocide but also compels all signatory states to prevent and punish the crime of genocide.
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Human Rights Watch, Rohingyas and activists have also welcomed the move.
UN investigators and human rights groups say Myanmar security forces carried out mass rapes, killings and burning of Rohingya homes, for which they could be charged with ethnic cleansing, or even genocide.
In September, a special UN fact-finding mission urged that Myanmar be held responsible in international legal forums for alleged genocide against its Muslim Rohingya minority.
While the Rohingya have been settled in Myanmar for generations, they have been harshly discriminated against. Many in Myanmar consider them illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and they have been denied basic rights and citizenship.