ACCORDING to a former ICC prosecutor, The International Criminal Court (ICC) can exercise the territorial jurisdiction to try the perpetrators who forcibly drove out over one million Rohingyas from Myanmar into Bangladesh. While attending an international seminar titled “Accountability: The ICC and the Rohingya Crisis” held in the city, Kate Vigneswaran, former prosecutor for the Yugoslavia Tribunal, clearly specified – When a person is driven out directly into the territory of a second state, the ICC may exercise the jurisdiction under the Article 12(2) (a) if either of the originating or receiving state is a state party to the court.
The ICC had invited competent authorities of the country to submit written observations, either publicly or confidentially, on the prosecutor’s request no later than 11 June. Now it’s up to the Bangladesh government to decide how quickly it wants to pursue the legal course of action against Myanmar. Bangladesh itself is in a position to prosecute the crimes against the Rohingyas if the ICC grants jurisdiction to investigate the crimes and if the country has the domestic law and a fair trial procedure that satisfies the Rome Statute.
The ICC on May 9 wrote a letter to Bangladesh – seeking its observations on its jurisdiction over the expulsion of Rohingyas from Myanmar to Bangladesh – possible crimes against humanity. Bangladesh is yet to respond to the ICC letter. First hand evidence acquired from Google satellite images, verbal accounts of refugees, photos of torching villages, beating up of refugees and clear marks of physical torture and rapes are all there.
Now that the debate and discourse on legal actions have been clarified, the state must pursue justice. The entire Rohingya community has not received any justice either at home or abroad. Furthermore, chances of their appropriate repatriation as Myanmar citizens cannot be said very bright at the moment. It is right on this critical juncture where the ICC and Bangladesh should immediately begin trial involving the international community.
Our opinion is simple and clear: It’s an international crime. It should be immediately investigated and the criminal military generals of Myanmar must be punished.
