Suu Kyi Arrives At UN Court To Defend Genocide Charge
Myanmar's leader and Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi has arrived at the U.N.'s International Court of Justice in The Haque on Tuesday to defend her country over charges of genocide against its Rohingya Muslim minority.
Gambia, a small African nation, launched proceedings against the Buddhist-majority Myanmar in November, accusing the country’s military of “widespread and systematic clearance operations” against the Rohingya, beginning in October 2016 and expanding in August 2017, which killed thousands of Rohingya and forced 7,30,000 into the world’s largest refugee camp across the border in neighbouring Bangladesh.
The Nobel Peace Prize laureate will hear allegations that the military ”intended to destroy the Rohingya as a group, in whole or in part", via mass murder, rape, and setting fire to their buildings "often with inhabitants locked inside". Suu Kyi was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 for her non-violent struggle for democracy and human rights in the country where she spent 15 years under house arrest. However, in a dramatic fall from grace, she announced last month she would personally lead her country’s defence at the Haque — in her role as foreign affairs minister — alongside “prominent international lawyers”. It is only the third genocide case filed at the court since World War Two. Myanmar accused of violating its obligations under the 1948 Genocide Convention, has repeatedly justified the crackdown on the Rohingya as necessary to stamp out "terrorism".
EXTRAORDINARY VIDEO from a #Rohingya camp in #Bangladesh of #refugees chanting “GAMBIA, GAMBIA!” ahead of this morning’s @CIJ_ICJ genocide trial. pic.twitter.com/WP1LwHDJYu
— Shafiur Rahman (@shafiur) December 10, 2019
The Nobel Peace Prize laureate will hear allegations that the military ”intended to destroy the Rohingya as a group, in whole or in part", via mass murder, rape, and setting fire to their buildings "often with inhabitants locked inside". Suu Kyi was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 for her non-violent struggle for democracy and human rights in the country where she spent 15 years under house arrest. However, in a dramatic fall from grace, she announced last month she would personally lead her country’s defence at the Haque — in her role as foreign affairs minister — alongside “prominent international lawyers”. It is only the third genocide case filed at the court since World War Two. Myanmar accused of violating its obligations under the 1948 Genocide Convention, has repeatedly justified the crackdown on the Rohingya as necessary to stamp out "terrorism".
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