The International Court of Justice (ICJ), which is the principal judicial organ for the U.N. established in 1945, announced on Tuesday that Ireland filed an application to intervene and support The Gambia in its ongoing case against Myanmar under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.
“In availing itself of the right of intervention conferred by Article 63, Ireland relies on its status as a party to the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide of 9 December 1948 (the “Genocide Convention”),” the ICJ stated in a press release on Dec. 24.
The charge of genocide was brought against Myanmar by the West African nation of The Gambia in November 2019. It alleges that Myanmar has been committing genocide against the Rohingya since October 2016 when the military launched a “crackdown” against Rohingya communities in northern Arakan State.
The U.S. labeled the 2016-17 military assault on the Rohingya in Myanmar a genocide in 2022.
Besides Ireland, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and the U.K. have already intervened to support The Gambia in its genocide case against Myanmar. The Maldives was the latest to receive approval from the ICJ in July to intervene and add its name to the growing list of U.N. member states supporting The Gambia.
Four additional countries have recently filed intervention requests, including Slovenia on Nov. 29, the Democratic Republic of the Congo on Dec. 10, and Belgium on Dec. 12. The ICJ has invited The Gambia and Myanmar to provide written observations on these requests by Ireland, and the four others, to intervene in the ongoing trial.
Myanmar State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been held in a regime prison since the coup on Feb. 1, 2021, defended the military at the ICJ in November 2019. She had claimed that the accusations of genocide brought about by The Gambia were “one-sided.”
The regime in Naypyidaw, which seized power after the 2021 coup, sent its minister Ko Ko Hlaing to object to the ICJ case in February 2022. But the ICJ rejected the regime’s objections in July 2022 and proceeded with the case.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan requested an arrest warrant for Min Aung Hlaing on Nov. 27. Khan alleges that his military committed crimes against humanity for the forced deportation of 700,000 Rohingya from Myanmar into Bangladesh in 2016-17.
Bangladesh’s interim government stated on Sunday that approximately 60,000 Rohingya have fled into Bangladesh over the past two months due to fighting between the military and the Arakan Army (AA) in northern Arakan State.
The AA took full control of the Myanmar-Bangladesh border after it seized northern Arakan’s Maungdaw Township on Dec. 8. Neighbouring Buthidaung Township, home to an estimated 260,000 Rohingya, came under AA control on May 18.
