THE HAGUE (AFP): The United Nations top court has announced that fresh public hearings in a case accusing Myanmar of genocide against its Muslim Rohingya minority will take place in January 2026.
Filed by The Gambia to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in 2019, the case accuses the South-East Asian country's authorities of violating the UN genocide convention during a brutal crackdown by the army and Buddhist militias on the Rohingya in 2017.
Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims fled the bloodshed, while witnesses reported murders, rape and arson targeting the minority.
As a result, the ICJ, which rules on disputes between countries, ordered Myanmar in 2020 to "take all measures within its power" to prevent a genocide.
In a press release on Friday, the Hague-based court said the latest set of public hearings will run from January 12 to 29.
"The hearings will be devoted to the merits of the case and will include the examination of witnesses and an expert called by the Parties," the ICJ said.
Witness hearings will also take place behind closed doors.
The Gambia, a Muslim-majority west African country, has asked the court to rule that Myanmar breached its obligations with regard to the 1948 UN Genocide Convention.
It has demanded reparations for the victims, as well as guarantees that the atrocities will not happen again.
According to the UN refugee agency, more than a million Rohingya are living in makeshift camps in neighbouring Bangladesh, after fleeing the 2017 crackdown in Buddhist-majority Myanmar.
Although the ICJ's rulings are binding and cannot be appealed, the court has no way to enforce its judgments. -- AFP
