Myanmar’s Rohingya people called ‘Muslim dogs’ before attacks, ICJ hears

From Gambia’s legal team, Jessica Jones highlighted how the Rohingya faced “longstanding denigration” and hate speech from senior and other members of the Myanmar military. 

Ms. Jones also referred to a video posted on Facebook in August 2017 featuring a soldier displaying “clear encouragement of genocidal violence against the Rohingya” – actions that would be in clear breach of Myanmar’s obligations under the 1948 Genocide Convention.

“He told them, and I quote, ‘We will clear the villages where those animals live. We have guns, we have bullets. That’s what we came with, with ammunition and the spirit to attack the animals, we have come here. If you can carry a sword, carry a sword. If you can carry a stick, then carry a stick. Carry whatever you can and bravely face these animals’.”

Gambia – whose claim at the ICJ has the support of all 57 States belonging to the Organization for Islamic Cooperation – alleges that Myanmar’s military rulers committed brutal acts of genocide against the Rohingya people from 2016 to 2018 in northern Rakhine State.  

These violations included mass executions, the indiscriminate killing of up to 10,000 civilians including women and children, widespread sexual violence and the deliberate burning of hundreds of villages. 

‘Textbook ethnic cleansing’

In 2017, then UN rights chief Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein described the violence against the Rohingya as a “textbook example of ethnic cleansing” that had forced around 700,000 of them flee to neighbouring Bangladesh, where most remain today. 

In 2020, the international court ordered Myanmar to cease its genocidal acts, following a request from Gambia, which is now seeking to hold Myanmar accountable for its actions and secure restitution and compensation for victims.

Myanmar has long denied intentionally persecuting the Rohingya and cited carrying out counter-insurgency operations.

Landmark case

The case is regarded widely as a watershed, as it is the first time that the ICJ judges are set to rule on a dispute brought by a country not impacted by the alleged crime. It also comes as proceedings continue at the world court concerning South Africa’s allegation that Israel violated its obligations under the Genocide Convention in Gaza, following the Hamas-led attacks in October 2023. Israel rejects the claim. 

Next week, three Rohingya witnesses are scheduled to present their harrowing testimonies to the court as “members of “the wrong group at the wrong time and the wrong place” who witnessed the killing of their spouses and children in Myanmar, Gambia’s Philippe Sands said, in concluding remarks. 

The International Court of Justice is the UN’s top judicial body. It was created after the Second World War to settle disputes between States. While the court gives advisory opinions on questions of international law, it cannot prosecute individuals but determines State’s responsibility.

The hearings at The Hague continue until 29 January. 

#NoToHate: Confronting harmful speech