Link to article: https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/02/14/developments-gambias-case-against-myanmar-international-court-justice#
Summary: From February 21-28 the International Court of Justice in the Hague, Netherlands will hold public hearings in the case of The Gambia v Myanmar which is the case accusing Myanmar of violating the Genocide Convention against the Rohingya population in Myanmar’s northern Rakhine State. This is a continuation of an on-going hearing that started in November 2019 with Gambia filing for this case. The case was first heard in December 2019, Gambia requested in this hearing to protect the remaining Rohingya still in Myanmar from genocide, which the court agreed to. On February 1, 2021 Myanmar’s military staged a coup which overthrew the democratically elected government and replaced it with Military leadership which leads us to today as the case is still being held. This case is extremely important to stop not only genocide in Myanmar but also stop the multiple cases of abuse of power that the Myanmar military commit. This abuse against the Rohingya is not new; it’s been a decades-long running abuse.
Analysis: It is immensely important for this case to be heard and handled. The UN and possibly even NATO should get involved in this court case doesn’t stop the alleged genocide. Genocide is a crime that the whole world takes very seriously and should work to stop it for good. This is also something that should not take 2-3 years to solve everyday that it takes to stop this problem is a day that more lives are lost or in danger. In the past the UN has avoided helping in these situations by declaring the horrible actions “acts of genocide” rather than actual genocide that allows them to take a loophole and avoid having to spend resources and time on these people that need help and are worth the resources and time. Even though there have been multiple genocides the only one officially declared a genocide was the genocide against the Jews in World War 2. This is not how it should be acts of genocide or genocide shouldn’t matter, help should come either way.
How this relates to class: This is an international court case thus it relates heavily to the international law unit. A possible reason this court case has been going for so long is the difficulty involved in enforcing international laws and the lack of an international police force. There is also the point that Gambia isn’t powerful so it’s difficult for it to bring this case to court and this is why Gambia needed support from multiple organizations.