YONGON: Myanmar’s civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi will head up a delegation to the UN’s top court to counter a case accusing the mainly Buddhist state of genocide against its Rohingya Muslims, the government said Wednesday.
The State Counsellor will “lead a team to the International Court of Justice, The Hague, Netherlands, to defend the national interest of Myanmar,” according to a statement posted on the Facebook page of her office.
Two years ago some 740,000 Rohingya fled over the border into sprawling camps in Bangladesh since Myanmar’s military launched a campaign of violence against the ethnic Muslim branded as genocide.
– Myanmar accused of genocide –
The International Criminal Court (ICC) decision came after West African nation The Gambia on Monday launched a separate case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the UN’s top court, also based in The Hague.
The Gambia, acting on behalf of the 57-nation Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), accuses Myanmar of genocide. The first hearings are scheduled for December.
The ICJ normally deals with more legalistic disputes between states but also rules on alleged breaches of UN conventions.