Myanmar denies Rohingya genocide allegations

Myanmar has begun hearing the Rohingya genocide case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the UN’s highest court in The Hague, Netherlands. On the first day of the hearing, Myanmar government representative Ko Ko Hlaing denied the genocide charges against them, claiming that Gambia had failed to present sufficient evidence to support the charges.
He told the court that the charges against Myanmar were completely baseless and unsustainable due to a lack of evidence. Earlier this week, Gambian Foreign Minister Dawda Jalo accused the court of Myanmar’s “planned genocidal policy” to completely eliminate the Muslim minority living in the country.
Thousands of Rohingya were killed in a brutal crackdown by the Myanmar military in 2017. More than 740,000 people were forced to flee to neighboring Bangladesh for their lives. A 2018 UN report recommended that Myanmar’s top military officials be investigated for genocide and crimes against humanity in Rakhine state and other areas.
However, the Myanmar government has denied the allegations from the beginning. The country’s current military junta claims that its military operation was mainly aimed at armed insurgents and terrorist groups.
During the hearing at the ICJ on Friday (January 16), Ko Ko Hlaing made it clear that terrorists are roaming freely in Rakhine, so Myanmar is not obliged to sit idly by. According to him, the so-called ‘clearance operation’ is a military term, which is mainly used for counter-insurgency or counter-terrorism operations.
This is the first time that the military has faced such a major legal battle at the international court since it seized power by overthrowing the civilian government in 2021. The ruling in this case is expected to play a very important role in Myanmar’s standing in the international arena and establishing justice for the Rohingya.
Source: BBC