The Gambia v Myanmar at the ICJ: Good Samaritans Testing State Responsibility for Atrocities on the Rohingya

Abstract

The Rohingya ethnic group of Myanmar's Rakhine State have suffered systemic discrimination and violence for several decades. An overwhelming majority of Rohingya had to either flee their homes, or stay and suffer from deplorable conditions. While a majority of states have condemned the atrocities perpetrated on the Rohingya, decisive action or even unequivocal condemnation in the U.N. General Assembly has been stymied by various political and strategic factors. The Gambia, a small African state, has taken upon itself to test the legal responsibility of Myanmar for atrocities on the Rohingya by filing a case at the International Court of Justice ("I.C.J." or "the Court") in November 2019. This Article seeks to explore how the case may play out as it proceeds in the I.C.J. and what it may or may not mean for the Rohingya by analyzing the Court's provisional order, its record of hearings, and its jurisprudence along with other international courts.

Keywords: ICJ, Rohingya, Myanmar, Gambia, Bangladesh