Court in session: Myanmar’s Union Minister for the Ministry of the President’s Office Ko Ko Hlaing sittting in the courtroom for the start of hearings in The Hague, Netherlands. — Reuters
An international court case alleging Myanmar committed genocide against the mostly Muslim Rohingya minority is “flawed and unfounded”, Yangon’s foreign ministry said.
In a statement published in a state newspaper yesterday, the government called on the International Court of Justice to “reach its judgment based on fact and settled law strictly within the framework of the Genocide Convention”.
ICJ judges are hearing three weeks of testimony, which began in The Hague on Monday, as they weigh accusations by The Gambia that Myanmar committed genocide against the Rohingya in a 2017 crackdown.
Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims fled violence by the Myanmar army and Buddhist militias, escaping to neighbouring Bangladesh and bringing harrowing accounts of mass rape, arson and murder.
On the first day of the hearings, Gambia’s Justice Minister Dawda Jallow told the court that the Rohingya “have been targeted for destruction”.
Lawyers for military-ruled Myanmar will begin their court response on Friday.
“The allegations made by The Gambia are flawed and unfounded in fact and law,” said the Yangon foreign ministry statement, printed in the Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper.
“Biased reports, based on unreliable evidence, cannot make up for truth,” it added.
The country – ruled by a military junta since a coup in 2021 – was co-operating with the ICJ “in good faith” in a sign of its respect for international law, it said.
The statement did not use the word Rohingya, referring instead to “persons from Rakhine state”.
The Rohingya are not recognised as an official minority by the Myanmar government, which denies them citizenship and considers them Bengali interlopers, despite many having roots in the country stretching back centuries.
Myanmar has maintained the crackdown by its armed forces was justified to root out Rohingya insurgents after a series of attacks left a dozen security personnel dead. — AFP
