The Gambia case against Myanmar at the International Court of Justice got off to a good start after the world’s top court ordered Myanmar to take measures to prevent genocidal acts against the Rohingya.
The court on Thursday unanimously adopted “provisional measures” that require Myanmar to prevent genocide and take steps to preserve evidence.
Myanmar’s military committed extensive atrocities against the Rohingya, including murder, rape, and arson, that peaked during its late 2017 campaign of ethnic cleansing, forcing more than 740,000 Rohingya to flee to Bangladesh, according to human rights watch.
In September 2019, the United Nations-backed International Independent Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar found that the 600,000 Rohingya remaining in Myanmar “may face a greater threat of genocide than ever,” the group said.
Thursday’s development comes as a huge victory for The Gambia as the country and Myanmar lock horns after it filed a case at the International Court of Justice last year alleging that Myanmar was committing “an ongoing genocide” against its minority Muslim Rohingya population.
Myanmar has since denied those allegations.
