Myanmar’s shadow government, the National Unity Government (NUG), has withdrawn all preliminary objections to an International Court of Justice (ICJ) case against the country, which has been accused of committing genocide against its Rohingya Muslim minority.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, the NUG, which comprises ethnic minority leaders and politicians from Aung San Suu Kyi’s deposed National League for Democracy (NLD) party, announced that it accepts the jurisdiction of the ICJ to hear allegations in the case.
“With guidance from the NUG, Ambassador Kyaw Moe Tun has advised the ICJ that Myanmar withdraws its preliminary objections and accepts the Court’s jurisdiction. Those objections were procedural matters that do not address the substance of the case. Myanmar no longer views them as appropriate,” the statement read.
A hearing on preliminary objections to the jurisdiction has been scheduled to be held from 21 February. Referring to this, the statement expressed hope that its withdrawal of objections will enable the court “to cancel the upcoming hearings and proceed quickly with the timetable for the hearing of the case under the Genocide Convention.” The NUG further added that its former objections would be “detrimental to the interests of Myanmar [...] and to the cause of justice for the Rohingya people.”
Myanmar withdraws all preliminary objections to the ICJ; We believe that It’d be dangerous and be inconsistent with UNGA position if court accepts the junta as Myanmar Representative. We expect the court to accept Myanmar PR to the UN consistent with the UNGA position. https://t.co/bOWAVfVJjn
— National Unity Government Myanmar (@NUGMyanmar) February 1, 2022
The statement further emphasised the NUG’s view of the “importance of accountability for the military’s violations of international law.” “We continue to work towards international criminal accountability, including by gathering and submitting evidence to the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar and granting jurisdiction to the International Criminal Court for all crimes within Myanmar covered by the Rome Statute since July 2002,” it stated.
It concluded by calling on the international body to accept Myanmar’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Kyaw Moe Tun, as Myanmar’s official representative in the case. According to the shadow government, Myanmar’s ruling military has unlawfully detained the country’s previous agent and deputy agent to the Court.
The ICJ case was filed in November 2019 by the Muslim-majority African nation, The Gambia. It concerns the Tatmadaw’s operations against the Rohingya in 2016 and 2017, following which, more than 730,000 Rohingya Muslims fled Myanmar’s Rakhine State. According to The Gambia, the military’s atrocities during the period constitute alleged violations of the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.
Myanmar had previously asked the ICJ to drop the Rohingya case, citing the court’s lack of jurisdiction. At the time, Myanmar’s democratic leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, had denied all allegations of genocide and stressed that the military had carried out legitimate counter-terrorism operations.
In fact, Myanmar authorities have consistently maintained that the military did not commit genocide or systematically use “disproportionate force” against innocent civilians. Instead, they contend that the forces embarked on an admittedly “haphazard” campaign to root out militants and insurgents.
Suu Kyi has since backtracked slightly, saying that although there might have been a discriminatory amount of force used against the Rohingyas, it did not amount to genocide. She also urged the ICJ to dismiss the allegations of genocide and allow the country’s court to deal with the matter of human rights violations.