{"id":312062,"date":"2026-01-19T12:01:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-19T12:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=312062"},"modified":"2026-01-14T19:32:16","modified_gmt":"2026-01-14T19:32:16","slug":"un-world-court-begins-landmark-hearings-on-rohingya-genocide-case-against-myanmar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2026\/01\/un-world-court-begins-landmark-hearings-on-rohingya-genocide-case-against-myanmar\/","title":{"rendered":"UN World Court Begins Landmark Hearings on Rohingya Genocide Case against Myanmar"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In this September 2017 photograph, a Rohingya man carrying his two children wades ashore in Cox\u2019s Bazar district, Bangladesh, after fleeing Rakhine state on a rickety boat across the Bay of Bengal.
\u00a9 UNICEF\/Patrick Brown<\/p><\/div>\n

12 Jan 2026 – Public hearings opened today at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in a landmark case brought by the Gambia against Myanmar, alleging violations of the Genocide Convention over the military\u2019s treatment of the Rohingya minority.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

he proceedings, held at the Peace Palace in The Hague, mark the start of the merits phase in the case, after years of preliminary legal arguments.<\/p>\n

Over the next three weeks, ICJ<\/a> judges will hear oral arguments from both sides, examine witnesses and experts, and consider whether Myanmar breached its obligations under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide<\/a>, to which the country is a party<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Opening the hearings, Judge Iwasawa Yuji, President of the Court, outlined a detailed schedule that includes two rounds<\/a> of pleadings by Gambia and Myanmar, as well as closed sessions to hear testimony from witnesses called by both Parties.<\/p>\n

Speaking on behalf of Gambia, Attorney General and Minister of Justice Dawda Jallow told the court that his country brought the case \u201cafter reviewing credible reports of the most brutal and vicious violations imaginable\u201d committed against the Rohingya, a Muslim minority in Myanmar\u2019s Rakhine province.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy all measures, this case is not about esoteric issues of international law,\u201d Mr. Jallow said. \u201cIt is about real people, real stories, and a real group of human beings.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The International Court of Justice (ICJ), the principal judicial organ of the UN.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

A case years in the making<\/h2>\n

Gambia filed its application in November 2019, accusing Myanmar of breaching the Genocide Convention through acts allegedly committed during so-called \u201cclearance operations\u201d carried out by the Myanmar military, or Tatmadaw<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Those operations escalated sharply in 2017, prompting more than 700,000 Rohingya to flee to neighbouring Bangladesh amid widespread killings, sexual violence, village burnings and other abuses. Zeid Ra\u2019ad al-Hussein, the then UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, described the situation as a \u201ctextbook example of ethnic cleansing<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

A UN Human Rights Council<\/a>-mandated fact-finding mission said<\/a> in 2018 that it had reasonable grounds to conclude that serious crimes under international law<\/a>, including genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, had been committed.<\/p>\n

Nearly one million Rohingya remain living as refugees in camps in Bangladesh, while countless others are displaced or trapped inside Myanmar in dire conditions.<\/p>\n

Provisional measures<\/h2>\n

In January 2020, the Court unanimously ordered provisional measures<\/a>, directing Myanmar to take all steps within its power to prevent genocidal acts against the Rohingya, preserve evidence, and report regularly to the Court on its compliance.<\/p>\n

Myanmar challenged the Court\u2019s jurisdiction, but in July 2022 the judges ruled that they were competent to hear the case.<\/p>\n

Eleven States also made written submissions in support of Gambia\u2019s interpretation of the Genocide Convention.<\/p>\n

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\"An <\/picture><\/div>\n
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Pierre Peron\/OCHA<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
A file photograph of an IDP camp in Rakhine state, Myanmar.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Accountability and broader context<\/h2>\n

Addressing the judges, Mr. Jallow said Myanmar remained trapped in \u201ca cycle of atrocities and impunity,\u201d noting that no one had been held accountable for crimes against the Rohingya.<\/p>\n

He also pointed to the February 2021 military coup, which overthrew the civilian government and plunged Myanmar into renewed nationwide conflict.<\/p>\n

\u201cAccountability is imperative,\u201d he said, warning that impunity risks the repetition of atrocity crimes.<\/p>\n

Myanmar\u2019s arguments<\/h2>\n

Myanmar is expected to begin presenting its arguments later this week. The Court\u2019s final judgment, which could take months or longer after the hearings conclude, will be legally binding.<\/p>\n

The International Court of Justice<\/a> is the United Nations\u2019 principal judicial organ. It settles legal disputes between States and gives advisory opinions on questions of international law.<\/p>\n

Unlike criminal courts, it does not try individuals but determines State responsibility.<\/p>\n

Go to Original – news.un.org<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

12 Jan 2026 – Public hearings opened today at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in a landmark case brought by the Gambia against Myanmar, alleging violations of the Genocide Convention over the military\u2019s treatment of the Rohingya minority.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":312063,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[677],"tags":[526,865,527,953],"class_list":["post-312062","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-asia-updates-on-myanmar-rohingya-genocide","tag-burma-myanmar","tag-genocide","tag-rohingya","tag-south-asia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312062","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=312062"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312062\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":312065,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312062\/revisions\/312065"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/312063"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=312062"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=312062"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=312062"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}