Arakan News Desk: The Myanmar military junta should end the ongoing Rohingya genocide, and the democratic revolution should fully embrace Rohingya as citizens of Myanmar, said Fortify Rights in a new animated film released on Thursday.
The Myanmar junta is scheduled Thursday to submit its Counter-Memorial to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, also known as the World Court, defending itself against allegations of genocide brought by The Gambia.
In November 2019, The Gambia brought a case against Myanmar at the ICJ in The Hague alleging violations of the Genocide Convention through “acts adopted, taken and condoned by the Government of Myanmar against members of the Rohingya group.”
As part of the legal proceedings, on January 23, 2020, the ICJ unanimously indicated legally binding provisional measures of protection for the Rohingya people, requiring Myanmar to prevent and preserve evidence of genocide and “cease forthwith any such ongoing internationally wrongful act and fully respect its obligations under the Genocide Convention.”
On Friday (Tomorrow, Aug 25), is “Rohingya Genocide Remembrance Day,” marking six years since genocidal attacks by the Myanmar military against Rohingya people in Rakhine State.
“Six years on, the Myanmar junta continues to create conditions of life to destroy Rohingya and erase their identity,” said Zaw Win, Human Rights Specialist at Fortify Rights.
“The military’s misuse of identity documents has been a factor in the genocide trial in The Hague, and today we’re releasing this animated film to remind the Court and others of the junta’s ongoing use of these cards to erase Rohingya identity and destroy them as a group. The world must hold all perpetrators accountable for the ongoing genocide against the Rohingya, including coup leader Min Aung Hlaing.”
In the new animated film, six ethnic Rohingya from Myanmar describe the junta’s efforts to coerce Rohingya to accept the National Verification Card (NVC), which identifies Rohingya as foreigners and erases their identity.
Through firsthand interviews, Fortify Rights documented how junta officials continue implementing the discriminatory NVC process established by former Myanmar governments. The junta’s efforts violate binding “Provisional Measures” issued by the ICJ in January 2020, specifically requiring Myanmar to protect Rohingya from genocide in Rakhine State.
More than 700,000 Rohingya fled to Cox’s Bazar District, Bangladesh, in 2017, joining several hundred thousand other Rohingya in sprawling refugee camps. Over one million Rohingyas have temporarily sheltered in Bangladesh amid brutal military crackdown in Rakhine state. At the time of writing, an estimated 600,000 Rohingya remain in Rakhine State, Myanmar, and are experiencing ongoing genocidal acts by junta authorities.
Rohingya in Rakhine State told Fortify Rights how authorities left them no choice but to accept NVCs by restricting their freedom of movement, right to work, and education. Of the six Rohingya people who participated in the film, five were coerced into accepting the NVC— two before the February 2021 Myanmar coup, and three after.
