Watch: Rohingya refugees chant ‘Gambia’ as Myanmar fights genocide charges from the African country
Myanmar is being defended by Aung San Suu Kyi herself in the International Court of Justice.
In (and after) August, 2017, nearly seven lakh Rohingya Muslims fled Myanmar after a militant attack led to a severe crackdown on the community. The violence meted out to the Rohingya Muslims by Myanmar’s security forces were “hallmarks of genocide”, according to the UN and critics across the globe.
Ironically, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been the de facto leader of Myanmar since 2016 (before the genocide began) is being accused by the UN of “complicity” in the military clearances.
Because of the treatment handed out to Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, Suu Kyi’s Nobel Prize was also under review, and while the foundation denounced her actions in Myanmar, they did not revoke the prize. Amnesty International, however, revoked the highest honour she was awarded, as did the US Holocaust Museum. Canada also revoked her honorary citizenship.
In the video above, current Rohingya refugees who are living across Bangladesh in various camps, are seen chanting “Gambia, Gambia!” in honour of the west African country that has taken Myanmar to the International Court of Justice for its actions.
The Gambia, a Muslim majority country in Africa, has levelled charges of genocide against Myanmar. In its submission to the ICJ, “widespread and systematic ‘clearance operations’ – the term that Myanmar itself uses – against the Rohingya group,” was detailed.
Also detailed was “the use of mass murder, rape and other forms of sexual violence, as well as the systematic destruction by fire of their villages, often with inhabitants locked inside burning houses” by Myanmar.
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