The Gambia filed a genocide case against Myanmar in the International Criminal Court (ICJ) in November 2019 on behalf of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). When the genocide against the Rohingya in Rakhine began in August 2016, more than seven lakh people from this minority Muslim community in Myanmar took refuge in Bangladesh to save their lives. In this context, Gambia filed the case against Myanmar in the ICJ. Following the initial hearing of the case in December 2019, an interim order was issued for Myanmar in January 2020.
Aung San Suu Kyi, the country's then state counselor, represented Myanmar in the first public hearing of the case in the ICJ in 2019. At the time, he denied allegations of genocide against the Rohingya by the army. However, Suu Kyi, who was deposed by the army, has been imprisoned in multiple cases.
The trial of the Rohingya genocide at the International Criminal Court is set to begin on February 21. Representatives of the military government will now represent the country at the virtual hearing.
Although Myanmar's military government has no official position at the UN headquarters in New York, a number of UN agencies have invited junta representatives to the meeting. The decision was postponed by the UN General Assembly's credentials committee last December. Despite calling for a junta hearing, the credentials committee retained Kiao Mo Tun, Myanmar's ambassador to the United Nations during Suu Kyi's government.
The National Unity Government (NUG) of Myanmar said earlier this week that Kiao Mo Tun was the only person approved by Myanmar to be associated with the court.
Christopher Sidoti, a human rights lawyer and former member of the UN fact-finding mission in Myanmar, said the junta was not the government of Myanmar.
Tun Khin, president of the Burmese Rohingya Organization UK, said the people of Myanmar had explicitly rejected the junta, making it clear that the military did not represent them.
Tun Khin added that everyone in the international community, including the ICJ, should listen to this and that the junta should not be given any legitimacy.
In December 2019, Suu Kyi called on the International Court of Justice to overturn Gambia's claim. He said the ICJ had no jurisdiction to hear the case. Earlier this month, however, the ICJ's jurisdiction over allegations of genocide was acknowledged by Myanmar's unity government, which includes its leaders.
US sanctions list
A source in the Hague court told Reuters that the delegates registered for Myanmar's international co-ordination were junta-appointed envoy Ko Ko Hlaing and Myanmar's Union Attorney General Theda Oo. He will lead an eight-member legal team for the hearing. However, the US Department of Commerce has imposed sanctions on the two Myanmar officials. They will take Suu Kyi's place in the court hearing.
The ICJ did not answer questions about who would be recognized as a state representative if a country's government was in conflict. According to the rules, communication about the delegates will come from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or the embassy.
Shayna Bouchner, a researcher at New York-based Human Rights Watch, said the junta's presence at the hearing did not legitimize military representation before the United Nations.
Bouchner also said that justice should be done in the wake of the atrocities against the Rohingya in Myanmar.
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