Photo of displaced Rohingya
In a joint statement by Canada and the Kingdom of the Netherlands, they expressed their intention to intervene in support of Gambia’s genocide lawsuit against Myanmar at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
Gambia initially filed the lawsuit against Myanmar at the ICJ in 2019 alleging genocide. In their lawsuit they claimed:
“It is clear that Myanmar has no intention of ending these genocidal acts and continues to pursue the destruction of the group within its territory,” the lawsuit said, adding that the government “is deliberately destroying evidence of its wrongdoings to cover up the crimes.’’
In the joint statement by Canada and the Netherlands, they applauded the “laudable” lawsuit filed by Gambia and emphasised that “States Parties to the Genocide Convention must resolve to prevent genocide but also, critically to hold perpetrators to account”.
They further pledged to “assist with the complex legal issues that are expected to arise and will pay special attention to crimes related to sexual and gender-based violence, including rape”.
They emphasised in the statement that Gambia’s lawsuit highlighted the “targeted and systemic atrocities [by Myanmar’s security forces] against the Rohingya”. These crimes include “mass murder, sexual violence, torture, forced displacement, and denial of access to food and shelter”. This violence has led to over 850,000 Rohingya having to flee to Bangladesh since 2016.
Read the full statement here.
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