The Gambia Files Genocide Case Against Myanmar

Myanmar is in the spotlight once again over its treatment of Rohingya Muslims, after the Gambia filed an application to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), seeking punishment for those responsible for “genocidal acts”.

The 46-page application details the atrocities that occurred, starting in 2016, and requests punishment for those responsible, compensation for the victims, and an immediate end to the attacks.

If the ICJ takes the case on, it will be the first time the court has investigated claims of genocide without relying on the findings of other tribunals, such as the international tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, which it consulted for claims against Serbia and Croatia.

Around 95 per cent of the Gambia’s population is Muslim.  As a member of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, the country has taken the lead in drafting this claim, though it is supported by human rights groups and the wider international community.

Vice-President Isatou Touray describes the Gambia in the application as “a small country with a big voice on matters of human rights on the continent and beyond”. 

The application describes a “pervasive campaign of dehumanisation”, and highlights demands from the Rakhine Nationalities Development party for a “final solution”.

The Myanmar military, it states, “systematically shot, killed, forcibly disappeared, raped, gang-raped, sexually assaulted, detained, beat and tortured Rohingya civilians, and burned down and destroyed Rohingya homes, mosques, madrassas, shops and Qur’ans”.

This is not the first time the Gambia has intervened on the international stage in matters of human rights.

Its Attorney General, Abubacarr Marie Tambadou, previously served as special assistant to the prosecutor at the international criminal tribunal for Rwanda.

The application was drafted with the help of Prof Phillippe Sands QC, a high-profile Jewish-born human rights lawyer from Britain, whose family fled Nazi persecution during the Second World War.