In association with the International Commission of Jurists

Asia-Pacific

30 Aug

[Dr Melanie O’Brien is Associate Professor of International Law at the University of Western Australia and President of the International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS). She is also a 2022 research fellow at the Sydney Jewish Museum.] Two years ago, in August 2020, thirteen blog posts were written in a Rohingya Symposium here on Opinio Juris. These posts covered, inter alia, the need for accountability, the Security Council, the problematic fact that Myanmar’s...

|
29 Aug

[Matthew Smith is the co-founder and CEO of Fortify Rights.] August 25 marks the fifth anniversary of the Myanmar military’s most egregious attacks on the Rohingya people, but it’s not the anniversary of the Rohingya genocide per se. The ongoing genocide dates back decades, partly due to the repeated failure of the “international community”—U.N. member states and various institutions—to respond to targeted violence, protracted violations, and discriminatory...

|
26 Aug

[Laetitia van den Assum is a former ambassador of The Netherlands. She is also a former member of the Rakhine Advisory Commission, chaired by Kofi Annan.] August 2017, Prelude to a Catastrophe Thinking back to Myanmar’s ferocious and indiscriminate military campaign against the Rohingya, my mind turns to 24 August. On that day, the Advisory Commission of Rakhine state, headed by Kofi Annan, presented its final report...

|
25 Aug

[Zaw Win is a Human Rights Specialist at Fortify Rights.] The Rohingya are one of the most ill-treated and systematically persecuted groups in the world, having lived in a realm of statelessness and perpetual abuse for over six generations. August 25, 2022, marks five years since genocidal attacks, led by the Myanmar military, forced more than 700,000 Rohingya to flee to Cox’s Bazar District, Bangladesh where living...

|
25 Aug

[Antonia Mulvey is the Executive Director of Legal Action Worldwide (LAW).] As the world marks the 5th Rohingya Genocide Remembrance Day on the 25th of August, it is Rohingya women who are playing a leading role in the fight for international justice. They are ‘Champions of Justice’ - a remarkable group of women who are tearing up the gender norms of Rohingya patriarchal society. Most...

|
24 Aug

There are a few anniversaries of note in 2022, which should prompt us to deeper conversations and more concerted action. It is the 10th anniversary of the forced Rohingya exodus from Myanmar, with 25 August marking the 5th Rohingya Genocide Remembrance Day. This year also marks the 20th anniversary of the entry into force of the Rome Statute, which established the International Criminal Court. This year,...

|
17 Aug

[Ralph Wilde is a member of the Faculty of Law at University College London, University of London.] This Saturday, 20 August 2022, marks the one-year anniversary of the date it was made public that the National Unity Government (NUG) of Myanmar had issued a Declaration to the International Criminal Court accepting the Court’s exercise of jurisdiction with respect to the situation in...

|
22 Jul

The International Court of Justice has just read its judgment on preliminary objections in the Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (The Gambia v. Myanmar). This is a brief note based on the reading of the judgment, based on my twitter thread ‘live tweeting’ the judgment and does not delve into the details of the legal argumentation...

|
18 Jul

[Joseph Cho is a South Korea-based lawyer, qualified in New York as well as in England and Wales.] “North Korea best not make any more threats to the United States…and as I said they will be met with fire, fury and frankly power, the likes of which this world has never seen before.”President Donald J. Trump, 2017 Introduction In 2002, President George W....

|
14 Jul

It has been a busy time at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the past few months, particularly in relation to cases based on the Genocide Convention. At the moment, there are two ongoing cases relating to this convention – Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (The Gambia v. Myanmar) and Allegations of Genocide...

|
18 Jun

[Daron Tan is an Associate International Legal Adviser at the International Commission of Jurists, Asia and the Pacific Programme.] 18 June 2022 marks the inaugural International Day for Countering Hate Speech, as proclaimed by the UN General Assembly in Resolution 75/309. This day coincidentally falls in the middle of Pride Month, which serves as a sobering reminder of the violence, harassment and...

|