THE HAGUE – In a staunch defense at the United Nations’ highest court, Myanmar on Friday maintained that its military offensive against the Rohingya ethnic minority was a justified counter-terrorism measure, not an act of genocide. The country faced allegations of breaching the Genocide Convention at the International Court of Justice.

The military campaign, which began in Rakhine state in 2017 following an attack by a Rohingya insurgent group, has been marred by accusations of widespread atrocities. Reports claim security forces engaged in mass rapes, killings, and the burning of homes, leading over 700,000 Rohingya to seek refuge in neighboring Bangladesh.

“Myanmar was not obliged to remain idle and allow terrorists to have free reign of northern Rakhine state,” asserted the country’s representative, Ko Ko Hlaing, addressing the judges dressed in their formal black robes at the court.

Gambia initiated legal proceedings in 2019

The West African nation of Gambia brought the case to the court in 2019, accusing Myanmar of violating the Genocide Convention, a pivotal international treaty established after the horrors of World War II and the Holocaust.

Currently, approximately 1.2 million Rohingya remain in dire conditions within overcrowded camps in Bangladesh. These camps, lacking basic necessities, have become breeding grounds for child recruitment by armed groups, with girls as young as 12 being coerced into prostitution. The situation has been exacerbated by significant foreign aid cuts introduced by former U.S. President Donald Trump, which led to the closure of numerous schools within the camps and have left children facing starvation.

Buddhist-majority Myanmar has long considered the Rohingya Muslim minority to be “Bengalis” from Bangladesh even though their families have lived in the country for generations. Nearly all have been denied citizenship since 1982.

Myanmar denies Gambia claims of ‘genocidal intent’

As hearings opened Monday, Gambian Justice Minister Dawda Jallow said his nation filed the case after the Rohingya “endured decades of appalling persecution, and years of dehumanizing propaganda. This culminated in the savage, genocidal ‘clearance operations’ of 2016 and 2017, which were followed by continued genocidal policies meant to erase their existence in Myanmar.”

Hlaing disputed the evidence Gambia cited in its case, including the findings of an international fact-finding mission set up by the U.N.’s Human Rights Council.

“Myanmar’s position is that the Gambia has failed to meet its burden of proof,” he said. “This case will be decided on the basis of proven facts, not unsubstantiated allegations. Emotional anguish and blurry factual pictures are not a substitute for rigorous presentation of facts.”

Aung San Suu Kyi represented Myanmar at court in 2019. Now she’s imprisoned

Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi represented her country at jurisdiction hearings in the case in 2019, denying that Myanmar armed forces committed genocide and instead casting the mass exodus of Rohingya people from the country she led as an unfortunate result of a battle with insurgents.

The pro-democracy icon is now in prison after being convicted of what her supporters call trumped-up charges after a military takeover of power.

Myanmar contested the court’s jurisdiction, saying Gambia was not directly involved in the conflict and therefore could not initiate a case. Both countries are signatories to the genocide convention, and in 2022, judges rejected the argument, allowing the case to move forward.

Gambia rejects Myanmar’s claims that it was combating terrorism, with Jallow telling judges on Monday that “genocidal intent is the only reasonable inference that can be drawn from Myanmar’s pattern of conduct.”

In late 2024, prosecutors at another Hague-based tribunal, the International Criminal Court, requested an arrest warrant for the head of Myanmar’s military regime for crimes committed against the country’s Rohingya Muslim minority. Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, who seized power from Suu Kyi in 2021, is accused of crimes against humanity for the persecution of the Rohingya. The request is still pending.