European powerhouses, Canada stand together in genocide accusation against Myanmar

Khalid Umar Malik
21 Nov 2023, 19:51 GMT+10

Five European countries and Canada have joined the International Court of Justice (ICJ) genocide case accusing Myanmar of genocide against the Rohingya community.
Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom have filed a joint declaration of intervention in The Gambia's case filed in 2019.
The group referenced a "common concern for accomplishing the high purposes" of the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide.

YANGON, Myanmar - Five European countries and Canada have joined the International Court of Justice (ICJ) genocide case accusing Myanmar of genocide against the Rohingya community.

Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom have filed a joint declaration of intervention in The Gambia's case filed in 2019.

The group referenced a "common concern for accomplishing the high purposes" of the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide.

"We want to contribute to understanding and combating genocide." "We are particularly concerned with violence against women and children." Director-General for Legal Affairs in Germany, Tania von Uslar, said in a post on X.

According to the court, The Maldives filed a separate declaration accusing Myanmar of genocide.

The declarations, according to ICJ rules, mean that these countries will be able to make legal arguments in the case brought forward in 2019 in response to international outrage over the treatment of the Muslim-minority Rohingya community.

A United Nations fact-finding mission concluded that Myanmar's 2017 military campaign, which drove 730,000 Rohingya into neighboring Bangladesh, included "genocidal acts."

Myanmar has denied genocide, calling the UN report "biased and flawed." It claims that its crackdown was directed at Rohingya insurgents who had carried out attacks.

However, in July of last year, the ICJ rejected Myanmar's objections to the genocide proceedings, paving the way for the case to be heard in its entirety.