Faithwire
  • Watch
  • Go!
  • Podcasts
  • Newsletter
  • Contact Us
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Instagram
  • SCOTUS
  • Life
  • Religious Liberty
  • News
  • Politics
  • Faith
  • Opinion

International Court of Justice Orders Myanmar to Prevent Genocide of the Rohingya

Photo by Allison Joyce/Getty Images
Photo by Allison Joyce/Getty Images
Share Tweet
By Will Maule
Author

January 23, 2020

The world’s highest court has ordered the imposition of measures to prevent the genocide of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar (Burma).

On Thursday, The International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordered that emergency “provisional measures” be placed upon the country in a bid to save the lives of the besieged religious minority.

Reuters Journalists Finally Released from Prison After Exposing Myanmar Religious Persecution

Thousands of Rohingya perished and upwards of 700,000 fled the country after a brutal military crackdown in 2017.

The court’s momentous action comes just a month after the country’s de facto leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, denied the accusations of ethnic cleansing that have been leveled against her. Despite her repeated assurances, the United Nations insists that if no action is taken, genocidal actions could recur. The ICJ, which is operated by the UN, called upon Suu Kyi to respect 1948 Genocide Convention and take immediate action to protect vulnerable minority groups.

The genocide case, filed on behalf of Gambia, is only the third of its kind heard at The Hague since the Second World War.

Prof Philippe Sands QC, the barrister acting as legal counsel for the Gambia, told the Guardian that the court’s “clear and forceful order” signaled a “significant day for international law, the rights of individuals and groups, and the meaningful obligation of every state and person to desist from any act that could plausibly be characterised as genocide.”

The order, as Sands highlighted, is legally binding.

Americans Know Shockingly Little About Holocaust, New Survey Reveals

Myanmar, which is a Buddhist-majority nation, has always insisted that its military offensive was ordered in a bid to tackle an extremist threat in the western Rakhine state. According to the BBC, in her defense statement delivered to the court, Suu Kyi argued that the violence was nothing more than an “internal armed conflict.”

In an article published at the Financial Times shortly before the ruling, Suu Kyi even accused refugees of issuing “unproven statements” and presenting “a distorted picture” of the conflict.

“The international justice system may not yet be equipped to filter out misleading information before shadows of incrimination are cast over entire nations and governments,” she warned, alleging that UN-led fact-finding missions in Myanmar were riddled with inaccuracies. “We have to recognise that there is a systemic challenge,” she said of the wider investigatory process, before arguing that the entire case was “incomplete and incorrect.”

The indiscriminate and widespread nature of the atrocities, however, has caused many experts to warn that a quiet genocide is taking place at the hands of the military. Now, it would appear, the ICJ agrees with that assessment.

Under section four of the ruling, titled “RISK OF IRREPARABLE PREJUDICE AND URGENCY,” the ICJ wrote:

“The Court notes that the reports of the Fact-Finding Mission have indicated that, since October 2016, the Rohingya in Myanmar have been subjected to acts which are capable of affecting their right of existence as a protected group under the Genocide Convention, such as mass killings, widespread rape and other forms of sexual violence, as well as beatings, the destruction of villages and homes, denial of access to food, shelter and other essentials of life.

The Court is of the opinion that the Rohingya in Myanmar remain extremely vulnerable, observing in particular that the Fact-Finding Mission concluded in September 2019 that the Rohingya people remained at serious risk of genocide.”

The “Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect,” which seeks to transform the principle of “Responsibility to Protect” into a “practical guide for action in the face of mass atrocities,” said it was encouraged by the ruling.

Two Christian Schoolgirls Killed by Islamist Militants in Nigeria

“This is the first step on a path to justice for the Rohingya,” said director Dr. Simon Evans in a press release. “I hope that all members of the UN security council will uphold their moral and political obligation to ensure that the provisional measures ordered by the court are fully implemented. Those responsible for genocide are still in power in Myanmar. Justice has been delayed but can no longer be denied.”

The “Responsibility to Protect” (R2P) is a collective political commitment — signed by all member states at the United Nations at the 2005 World Summit — with the express aim of preventing genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity.

R2P has been used as the prerequisite for various instances of foreign military intervention when the country’s population has been at grave risk of genocide. In 2011, R2P was cited by the UN security council as the primary justification for military intervention in Libya after leader Muammar Gaddafi threatened to begin systematically killing all those who opposed him.

Gaddafi was killed by opposition fighters shortly after his convoy was struck by a NATO-led coalition sortie which had, in turn, been acting on an emergency resolution passed by the UN security council.

Latest

  • Faith

    CeCe Winans Reveals ‘The One Thing’ She’d Do Differently as a Parent: ‘If I Could Go Back’

  • News

    Hollywood Actor’s ‘Demonic Attack,’ ‘Insane’ God Encounter Shock Him Into Belief

  • News

    ‘God Still Heals’: Mike Signorelli on Fighting the Demonic, Seeing Miracles — and More

  • Faith

    Tim Tebow Foundation, Nonprofit Team Up to Rescue More Than 70 Missing Children

  • News

    School Reportedly Bans Student From Performing Christian Songs at Talent Show — Then Reverses Course


Sponsored
Sponsored

Newsletter
Signup

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Recent Posts

  • CeCe Winans Reveals ‘The One Thing’ She’d Do Differently as a Parent: ‘If I Could Go Back’
  • Hollywood Actor’s ‘Demonic Attack,’ ‘Insane’ God Encounter Shock Him Into Belief
  • ‘God Still Heals’: Mike Signorelli on Fighting the Demonic, Seeing Miracles — and More
  • Tim Tebow Foundation, Nonprofit Team Up to Rescue More Than 70 Missing Children
  • School Reportedly Bans Student From Performing Christian Songs at Talent Show — Then Reverses Course

Archives

  • May 2025
  • April 2025
  • March 2025
  • February 2025
  • January 2025
  • December 2024
  • November 2024
  • October 2024
  • September 2024
  • August 2024
  • July 2024
  • June 2024
  • May 2024
  • April 2024
  • March 2024
  • February 2024
  • January 2024
  • December 2023
  • November 2023
  • October 2023
  • September 2023
  • August 2023
  • July 2023
  • June 2023
  • May 2023
  • April 2023
  • March 2023
  • February 2023
  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016

Categories

  • Christian Persecution
  • Coronavirus
  • culture
  • Culture
  • Entertainment
  • Faith
  • Faith
  • Family
  • George Floyd
  • Go!
  • Israel
  • Life
  • Life
  • Lifestyle
  • Media
  • Men
  • Mission Haiti
  • News
  • News
  • Opinion
  • P.O.V
  • Politics
  • Politics
  • Roe
  • Sponsored
  • Sports
  • Virtue
  • Women

Meta

  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org

Navigation

  • Watch
  • Go!
  • Podcasts
  • Newsletter
  • Contact Us
  • Staff
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Service

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Instagram

Subscribe to the Newsletter

Sign up to get our newsletter your inbox every day.

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Newsletter Signup

Do you want to read
more articles like this?

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.