Caught in a Cleft Stick

While the ICJ ruling pulled up Myanmar’s de facto head, Aung San Suu Kyi, over the genocide of Rohingyas, the fact is that she can’t antagonise the army or the conservative Buddhist population

- Col R Hariharan

MYANMAR’S de facto head of state and State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi is facing yet another challenge. Already grappling with the complexities of constitutional democracy designed by the Tatmadaw (army), she now has to confront a recent order of the International Court of Justice on the Rohingya genocide issue.

On January 20, the 17-member ICJ panel imposed “provisional measures” on Myanmar, ordering it “to take all measures within its power” to prevent the killing of Rohingya Muslims remaining in Rakhine state under the 1948 Genocide Convention. The Court also asked Myanmar to preserve evidence of Rohingya persecution. It also ordered it to submit a report to the ICJ within four months, with additional reports every six months “until a final decision on the case is rendered by the Court”.

The ICJ’s order is an interim one to meet Gambia’s request for provisional measures “to stop genocidal conduct immediately” against about 6,00,000 Rohingyas remaining in Myanmar.

Myanmar is one of the 150 countries which ratified the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide which came into force on January 12, 1951. As a signatory to the Convention, it is obligatory for Myanmar to take action, in letter and spirit, against genocide both in times of war and peace.

Article II of the Genocide Convention lists killing, causing serious bodily or mental harm or deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring serious bodily or mental harm by the military or “any irregular armed units” as falling within the scope of the Convention.