Myanmar aimed to 'erase' Rohingya, UN court told

Myanmar targeted the Rohingya for destruction and made their lives a nightmare, the top UN court heard on the first day of the proceedings in a landmark case accusing the Southeast Asian country of committing genocide.

- SHWETA SHARMA

Dawda Jallow, justice minister of the Gambia, which brought the case, said no one was held accountable for the persecution of the Rohingya, a predominantly Muslim minority, and the perpetrators then felt emboldened to overthrow the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in 2021.

He said there were “credible reports of the most brutal and vicious violations imaginably inflicted upon a vulnerable group”.

This is the first genocide case that the International Court of Justice (ICJ) is hearing in full in over a decade. The case centres around the Myanmar military's operations in 2016 and 2017 that sent over 700,000 Rohingya refugees fleeing into neighbouring Bangladesh to escape persecution.

Proceedings began on Monday and are expected to last three weeks, with Gambia presenting its case over four days and Myanmar responding on Friday. The world court will also hear from Rohingya victims of the violence during a closed session.