The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has made a ruling on the military excesses on Rohingya in Myanmar against Rohingya Muslims.

About Rohingya crisis:

In 2017, the Myanmar military launched a brutal crackdown on Rohingya villages in Rakhine state. However, Myanmar has firmly denied all allegations of genocide and asserts that the soldiers carried out only legitimate counter terrorism operations.

Ruling from ICJ:

  • Republic of Gambia took Myanmar’s case to the ICJ in November 2019. Its suit claims that the brutalities by the defence services of Myanmar amounted to crimes of genocide under the 1948 Genocide Convention.
  • The findings by the United Nation and Human Rights group are prevalence of hate speech, mass atrocities of rape, extra-judicial killings, etc., is forced migration of Rohingya’s to Bangladesh.

Myanmar’s response:

Myanmar has rejected the ICJ’s ruling and accused rights groups of presenting the court with a distorted picture of the prevailing situation. However, the Myanmar’s claim is at odds with the finding of an Independent Commission of Enquiry.

About ICJ:

  • The ICJ was established in 1945 after half a century of international conflict in the form of two world wars.
  • The ICJ functions with its seat at The Hague, Netherlands.
  • It has the jurisdiction to settle disputes between countries cases pertaining to violation of human rights.
  • It adjudicates cases according to the tenets of International law and is the judicial arm of the United Nations.