OIC agrees on legal actions against Myanmar at ICJ

The OIC ministerial committee has unanimously adopted a resolution to move the pronouncement at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for establishing the legal rights of the Rohingya people who have been forcibly displaced from their mother land Rakhine state of Myanmar.

The resolution will pursue a legal recourse through the ICJ that came after a long series of negotiations to seek accountability for crimes committed against humanity and gross violation of human rights in the case of the Rohingyas.

The committee adopted the resolution in the final session of the 46th Council of Foreign Ministers in Abu Dhabi which was held on the last day of the council meeting on Saturday, a Bangladesh Foreign Affairs Ministry press release said in Dhaka today.

Bangladesh Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen led a high-powered delegation to the council and negotiations in the Special Committee in this regard, said the press release.

This unanimous measure has set a precedent for the OIC in pursuing the legal path to justice for addressing crimes committed against humanity and establishing the legal rights of the Rohingya population to their rightful homeland in the Rakhine state of Myanmar.

Earlier in last month, the Gambia led the process with a 10-member high-powered ministerial committee in Banjul, capital city of Gambia, where the members recommended taking legal steps for establishing legal rights on the principles of international law – specifically the Genocide Convention and other Human Rights and Humanitarian Law principles, added the release.

Over 700,000 Rohingyas crossed into Bangladesh from Rakhine since August 2017 when Myanmar launched there a brutal military crackdown termed “ethnic cleansing” by the UN and “genocide” by the human rights groups.