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Canada and the Netherlands Announced to Aid Gambia in Genocide Case

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Recently, Canada and the Kingdom of the Netherlands released a joint statement to intervene in the case bought before the ICJ.

Background of the Matter

Armed attacks, arson, and mob violence forced hundreds of thousands of Rohingya to flee their homes in Rakhine State, Myanmar. This caused them to start their journey towards Bangladesh, in what quickly became the fastest-growing refugee influx the world had seen in decades. For years, the Rohingya Muslims were victims of systemic atrocities. The genocide was perpetrated through mass murder and sexual violence.

Gambia v. Myanmar

The case has been bought up by the Gambia in November 2019 against Myanmar for the ethnic cleansing and genocide that has taken place. The Rohingya Muslims were discriminated and mass atrocities were committed.

The case deals with the violation of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Genocide Convention). This convention upholds the importance of human rights and holding the perpetrators responsible. The Gambia bought the case before the ICJ to keep up this pledge. In the first round of hearings, the Court had ruled unanimously that Myanmar is to take provisional measures to stop this ongoing genocide.

The Intervention

The intervention mainly comes as legal help. Canada and the Netherlands consider it their global obligation to support the victims to fight their fight. The countries will be assisting with complex legal issues. As a part of the announcement, the statement also entailed the importance to be given to the sexual crimes and the gender issues in the region.

The convention calls to the state parties to hold the perpetrators responsible in addition to the prevention in the first place. Both countries issued a global plea to the state parties to support the efforts in favour of this aim.


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