The Gambia has told the International Court of Justice (ICJ) that Myanmar deliberately tried to wipe out the Rohingya people through what it described as “genocidal policies”.
Addressing the UN’s top court in The Hague, The Gambia’s Minister of Justice, Dawda Jallow, said the case was based on credible evidence of extreme human rights abuses against the Muslim minority group.
The case, filed by The Gambia in 2019, accuses Myanmar of breaching the UN Genocide Convention by targeting the Rohingya population.
Myanmar has denied the allegations, insisting its military operations were aimed at insurgents.
More than 700,000 Rohingya were forced to flee to Bangladesh in 2017 after a military crackdown that left thousands dead and villages destroyed.
Mr Jallow told the judges that the Rohingya had endured decades of persecution and propaganda before the army carried out what he called a campaign meant to erase them from Myanmar.
A UN investigation in 2018 found that Myanmar’s top military leaders should be investigated for genocide and crimes against humanity, but the government rejected the findings.
