Staff Reporter :
Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen on Thursday termed the order of International Court of Justice (ICJ) about Rohingya atrocities in Myanmar a victory for humanity and a milestone for human rights activists across the world.
Dr Momen in his reaction from Ecuador said, this is a victory for The Gambia, OIC, Rohingyas and of course Bangladesh. “God bless humanity and also the ‘mother of humanity’ Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.”
In a sweeping legal victory for members of the Rohingya Muslim minority, the United Nations’ top court on Thursday ordered Myanmar to take all measures in its power to prevent genocide against the Rohingya people.
The court’s president Judge Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf said “the International Court of Justice is of the opinion that the Rohingyas in Myanmar remain extremely vulnerable.”
The ICJ accepted all four provisional measure requests in an unanimous (all 15 judges) verdict and asked Myanmar to submit a report within four months confirming measures taken, after that report every six months.
Court used the term ‘Rohingya’ and also rejected Myanmar’s claim and asked it to stop genocide and atrocities against Rohingyas.
The Foreign Minister said such verdict hopefully will stop the recurrence of ethnic cleansing and genocide in the world.
The order follows Gambia’s November 11, 2019 application to the court alleging that Myanmar military’s abuses in Rakhine State against the Rohingya violate the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide and urgently seeking provisional measures. The ICJ held hearings on Gambia’s provisional measures request in December.
The ICJ provisional measures order is legally binding on the parties. In November, Myanmar explicitly recognized the ICJ’s authority and in December, Aung San Suu Kyi, representing Myanmar before the ICJ in her capacity as foreign minister, acknowledged the court’s role as a “vital refuge of international justice.”
