The International Campaign for Arakan supports The Gambia and international community for upholding

The International Campaign for Arakan supports The Gambia and international community for upholding its international responsibility to punish genocide

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE December 9, 2019

Washington DC — The International Campaign for Arakan (ICA), a group which advocates on behalf of the Arakanese people in Rakhine State, Myanmar, stands in support of a lawsuit against Myammar for its genocidal persecution of the Rohingya people in Rakhine State. The government of the Republic of The Gambia in November 2019 filed a lawsuit at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) against the Republic of the Union of Myanmar for violating its obligations under the Genocide Convention. This historic lawsuit seeks to ensure Myanmar’s responsibility as a state for the genocide committed against the minorities in Myanmar.

The ICJ is the principal court of the United Nations, and rules on disputes between nations and other questions of international law. Article IX of the Genocide Convention provides that any disputes relating to the “interpretation, application or fulfillment” of the Convention, including “the responsibility of a State for genocide,” can be brought to the ICJ.

The Myanmar government has failed to prosecute or punish perpetrators of human rights abuses in Rakhine State against Arakanese (all communities in Rakhine State), as well as in other minority areas including Chin, Kachin, Shan, Mon, Karen, Kayan states. According to Yanghee Lee, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, "the extreme violence inflicted during the so-called counterinsurgency "clearance operations" was executed on an unprecedented scale and with an unprecedented brutality and has forced a mass exodus."

Myanmar government clearance operations followed 11 months of systematic persecution, brutal violence and serious human rights violations of the Arakanese and other minorities by the government. Myanmar has persecuted most of its Arakanese civilian population through discriminatory laws, arbitrary detentions and extrajudicial killings, and has placed severe restrictions on their humanitarian aid, freedom of movement, fundamental freedom and basic

human rights.

International Campaign for Arakan (ICA) has documented more than 100,000 civilians displaced in seven townships of Rakhine State since January 2019. ICA has also documented how civilians, including children, were killed and injured during the conflict.

ICA requests the ICJ to issue provisional measures which, if granted, could impose immediately binding obligations on Myanmar.

ICA supports The Gambia for upholding its international responsibility to punish genocide.

ICA requests the international community to hold the State of Myanmar accountable for its crimes, and to stand in solidarity to prevent future genocide in Myanmar and across the globe.

MEDIA CONTACT:

International Campaign for Arakan (ICA)

Contact@arakancampaign.org