Myanmar complies with court order

MYANMAR has submitted its first report to the International Court of Justice on steps it has taken to prevent the genocide of Rohingya Muslims, the UN’s top court said on Monday (25).

The ICJ made a provisional order in January that Myanmar must take “all measures within its power” to stop the alleged genocide of the minority group, and that it must report to the court at regular intervals.

The case was brought by the mainly Muslim African state of The Gambia, and featured a hearing in December where former civilian leader and democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi presented Myanmar’s case.

One million Rohingya are languishing in camps in neighbouring Bangladesh after a brutal crackdown by Myanmar’s military in 2017, while another 600,000 Rohingya remain in Myanmar’s southwestern Rakhine state. “On 22 May 2020, Myanmar submitted the first report indicated in the ICJ Order on provisional measures of 23 January 2020,” the International Court of Justice said in a tweet, without giving further details.

The contents of Myanmar’s report, of which a copy is to be sent to The Gambia, will remain confidential until its judges decide to make it public, court officials said.