Amsterdam: Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Britain, and the Maldives have been granted permission by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to intervene in Gambia’s genocide case against Myanmar, the ICJ announced in a statement on Wednesday.
These countries had requested to intervene in the ICJ case, also known as the World Court, back in November 2023.
“The seven States concerned will… be allowed to submit their written observations on the subject-matter of their interventions,” the ICJ stated.
“The Court will determine at a later date whether they should be authorized to make observations in the course of the oral proceedings.”
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In 2017, Gambia, a predominantly Muslim West African country, filed a case against Myanmar at the ICJ, accusing Myanmar of committing genocide against the Rohingya, a minority Muslim group in Myanmar.
A United Nations fact-finding mission concluded that Myanmar’s 2017 military campaign, which forced 730,000 Rohingya into neighboring Bangladesh, included “genocidal acts”.
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Myanmar has denied the allegations of genocide, dismissing the U.N. findings as “biased and flawed.” Myanmar argues that its crackdown targeted Rohingya rebels responsible for attacks.
The ICJ had previously dismissed Myanmar’s objections to the genocide proceedings in July 2022, allowing the case to proceed to a full hearing, although a date for the proceedings has yet to be set.
