ICC to decide in June if forced exodus of Rohingya Muslims can be investigated

by Kirthika
May 15, 2018

On June 20th war crimes judges at the International Criminal Court (ICC) will discuss whether to launch investigation into the forced exodus of Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar. The decision was made after chief prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, asked the court whether deportations could be investigated as a crime against humanity.

"The chamber convenes a status conference on 20 June 2018, to be held in closed session, only in the presence of the prosecutor," ruled Judge Peter Kovacs on Friday.

Approximately 700 000 Rohingya Muslims fled from Myanmar to Bangladesh since last August. Given that Myanmar is not a signatory to the Rome Statute, investigating the plight of Rohingya Muslims poses restrictions.

However, Bensouda argues that since Bangladesh is a signatory to the Rome Statute, if deportations are considered a war crime, her office should receive the jurisdiction to investigate.

“Nowhere in the ICC Charter does it say that the court has jurisdiction over states which have not accepted that jurisdiction," Myanmar stated in response to such developments.

Read full story here.

Add new comment

About text formats

Plain text

  • No HTML tags allowed.
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
  • Web page addresses and email addresses turn into links automatically.
  • Global and entity tokens are replaced with their values. Browse available tokens.

Restricted HTML

  • You can align images (data-align="center"), but also videos, blockquotes, and so on.
  • You can caption images (data-caption="Text"), but also videos, blockquotes, and so on.
  • Global and entity tokens are replaced with their values. Browse available tokens.
  • You can embed media items (using the <drupal-media> tag).

We need your support

Sri Lanka is one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a journalist. Tamil journalists are particularly at threat, with at least 41 media workers known to have been killed by the Sri Lankan state or its paramilitaries during and after the armed conflict.

Despite the risks, our team on the ground remain committed to providing detailed and accurate reporting of developments in the Tamil homeland, across the island and around the world, as well as providing expert analysis and insight from the Tamil point of view

We need your support in keeping our journalism going. Support our work today.

link button