The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has rejected Naypyidaw's preliminary objection to the Gambia's case against Myanmar for Rohingya genocide and war crimes. This judgment was given in The Hague, Netherlands today, Friday. Through this, the way to hear the main case of genocide was opened.
Myanmar's military government initially objected to the question of hearing the case after taking power in the country. The hearing on Myanmar's preliminary objections began on February 21. The court heard the arguments of both sides on the matter for a total of 4 days till February 28.
At that time, the Minister of International Cooperation Ko Ko Hlang represented Myanmar in the court hearing. He claimed that the court has no jurisdiction to hear the allegations of genocide. Myanmar is committed to the Genocide Charter by revising its criminal law to define genocide as a crime, Hlang said. He said that Gambia wants to convince the world that the Myanmar authorities are the perpetrators of genocide before going out of court.
Among the objections raised by Myanmar, the main points of emphasis are the jurisdiction of the court; Gambia's case as a member of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), which is not covered by the Genocide Charter; As no Gambian citizens are directly affected, the country cannot claim itself as aggrieved and cannot resort to the courts without attempting to resolve the dispute on a bilateral basis.
The Gambia countered Myanmar's objections by claiming that the court settled questions of jurisdiction and Gambia's right to sue when it issued an interim order protecting the Rohingya community two years ago.
Claiming that Myanmar is basically trying to waste time and the lives of Rohingyas are becoming more endangered due to the delay, The Gambia rejected the preliminary objection and applied for an expedited hearing of the main case.
The representative of the Gambia, the country's Minister of Law and Attorney General Dawda Jallo, claimed that Gambia was not a representative of the OIC or anyone else, and said that his country filed the case out of its sense of responsibility as a signatory to the Genocide Convention.
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