MEDIA RELEASE / COMMUNIQUÉ DE PRESSE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE / POUR DIFFUSION IMMÉDIATE
November 19, 2019, Ottawa, ON – The Rohingya Human Rights Network (RHRN), along with human rights organizations around the world, are welcoming the move by the west African nation of Gambia to file a genocide case against Myanmar at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague.
This move comes more than two years after atrocities and human rights crimes against the Rohingya led to a mass exodus, and almost fourteen months after Canada declared the atrocities committed by Myanmar as genocide in two unanimously supported Parliamentary motions.
“While we're pleased that the case for genocide has been initiated by Gambia, we are deeply disappointed and dismayed that despite recognizing that genocide had been committed by Myanmar, and despite concerted lobbying by our organization and other human rights groups, Canada chose not to act, and ignored its legal responsibilities under the UN Genocide Convention,” said Yasmin Ullah, a Rohingya Canadian and President of the Rohingya Human Rights Network.
She added, “The fact that a tiny nation like Gambia has decided to step up and defend the international rule of law, while Canada chose not to do so is very shocking. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland have repeatedly stated that Canada is a 'rule of law' nation and a defender of the international legal order. But in this case they failed the Rohingya.”
Fareed Khan, Director of Advocacy and Media Relations for the Rohingya Human Rights Network said, “The Canadian government has a chance to right the wrong of its inaction by becoming a party to Gambia's case and adding a strong Western voice to the case against Myanmar.”
“As the first nation to officially label Myanmar's atrocities as genocide, Canada can use its connections with key allies like the US and the European Union to lobby for additional support of Gambia's case, since many Canadian allies have condemned Myanmar but have done little on the legal front to stop further atrocities from being committed,” added Khan.
The Gambia filing at the ICJ is the first sign of hope for the Rohingya that the state of Myanmar will be held fully accountable for the crimes it committed and the destruction it caused. It also comes at the same time as a parallel case is making its way through the International Criminal Court where the accountability of individuals in Myanmar's leadership may be determined for their individual roles in the genocide and other international crimes.
Both Ullah and Khan note that while Canada showed leadership last year, as the first on the international stage to declare the atrocities committed against the Rohingya as genocide, Canada's failure to follow through on that declaration with action is deeply troubling. Why a nation involved in drafting the UN Genocide Convention, and claiming to uphold the international rule of law, has instead chosen not to act in response to the worst crime that can be committed under international law and has been observed as such is a question that should be put to Justin Trudeau and Chrystia Freeland.
The actions by Gambia come after the UN's Independent International Fact Finding Mission on Myanmar said in an August 2018 report that Myanmar’s actions against the Rohingya were “grossly disproportionate to actual security threats” and that “military necessity would never justify killing indiscriminately, gang raping women, assaulting children, and burning entire villages.”
In its filing at the ICJ, Gambia asked the court to implement an injunction to make sure Myanmar immediately “stops atrocities and genocide against its own Rohingya people”. The case is being spearheaded by Gambia's attorney general and minister of justice, who previously worked at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda investigating the 1994 genocide in that country.
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