Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Netherlands, UK intervene ICJ's Rohignya case

Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom (UK) filed a joint declaration of intervention in the case brought by The Gambia against Myanmar at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

These countries are exercising the rights to intervene in this case under Article 63(2) of the Statute of the Court in order to set out their interpretation of the relevant provisions of the Genocide Convention before the Court, according to a joint statement issued by Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and the UK governments.

They recalled that the Genocide Convention requires States Parties to prevent the crime of genocide and hold those responsible to the account.

The statement said that in these proceedings, The Gambia alleged violations of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Genocide Convention).

"It argues that Myanmar's security forces perpetrate widespread and systemic "clearance operations" against the Rohingya, and that "genocidal acts committed during these operations were intended to destroy the Rohingya as a group, in whole or in part, by the use of mass murder, rape and other forms of sexual violence, as well as the systematic destructions by setting fire to their villages, often with inhabitants locked inside burning houses," reads the statement.

Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands and the UK further reaffirmed their commitment to accountability and the international legal order and stressed the Court's vital role in the peaceful settlement of disputes as the principal judicial organ of the United Nations.