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War crimes judges approve inquiry into violence against Rohingya War crimes judges approve inquiry into violence against Rohingya
(about 1 hour later)
Myanmar is accused of widespread abuses against Muslim minority groupMyanmar is accused of widespread abuses against Muslim minority group
Judges at the international criminal court have approved a prosecution request to investigate crimes against the Rohingya minority in Myanmar, the court has said in a statement. The international criminal court has approved a request from prosecutors to investigate crimes against humanity against Myanmar’s Rohingya minority who were systematically driven across the border to Bangladesh.
Myanmar has been accused of committing widespread abuses in a campaign against the Rohingya. It is not a member of the global court, but the ICC said it had jurisdiction over crimes partially committed in Bangladesh, a member state. More than 730,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled to neighbouring Bangladesh since a 2017 crackdown by Myanmar’s military, which UN investigators say was carried out with “genocidal intent”. Buddhist-majority Myanmar denies accusations of genocide.
“There exists a reasonable basis to believe widespread and/or systematic acts of violence may have been committed that could qualify as the crimes against humanity of deportation across the Myanmar-Bangladesh border,” a decision by the court in The Hague said. In a statement, the ICC said prosecutors were granted permission to examine acts that could qualify as widespread or systematic crimes against the Rohingya, including deportation, a crime against humanity, and persecution on grounds of ethnicity and/or religion.
“The chamber hereby authorises the commencement of an investigation into the situation in Bangladesh/Myanmar.” ICC judges also gave chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda wider authority to look into crimes beyond the scope of her request and any future crimes within the court’s jurisdiction.
Myanmar’s military began a counterinsurgency campaign against the Rohingya in August 2017 in response to an insurgent attack. More than 700,000 Rohingya fled to neighbouring Bangladesh to escape what has been called an ethnic cleansing campaign involving mass rapes, killings and the torching of homes. Although Myanmar is not a member of the ICC, the world’s permanent war crimes court has jurisdiction to examine alleged crimes that partially took place across the border in Bangladesh, which ratified the court’s statute in 2010.
More details soon … In July, Bensouda requested court permission to examine crimes in Bangladesh and two waves of violence in Rakhine State on the territory of Myanmar.
Citing estimates that between 600,000 and one million Rohingyas were forcibly displaced, “the chamber hereby authorises the commencement of an investigation into the situation in Bangladesh/Myanmar”, the ICC statement said.
“There exists a reasonable basis to believe widespread and/or systematic acts of violence may have been committed that could qualify as the crimes against humanity of deportation across the Myanmar-Bangladesh border,” it said.