Arguments opened on Monday at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague over allegations that Myanmar committed genocide against its Rohingya minority.
Gambia’s Justice Minister, Dawda Jallow, told the court that the Rohingya had been deliberately targeted for destruction.
“This is about real people, real stories and a real group of human beings: the Rohingya of Myanmar,” Jallow said.
The West African nation instituted the case against Myanmar in 2019 at the UN’s highest court, invoking provisions of the 1948 Genocide Convention.
Since then, 10 other countries, including Germany, France and Britain, have joined the case.
Myanmar has consistently denied the allegations.
The case stems from a military crackdown launched by Myanmar in 2017 against the Rohingya, a Muslim minority, which forced about 700,000 people to flee to neighbouring Bangladesh.
International human rights organisations have accused Myanmar’s military of carrying out mass killings and rapes, destroying villages and burning civilians alive in their homes.
In a provisional ruling in 2020, the ICJ ordered Myanmar to take immediate measures to protect the Rohingya population.
Myanmar was then represented at the court by its civilian leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Aung San Suu Kyi, who rejected the genocide allegations.
Suu Kyi was later jailed following a military coup in 2021.
The judges are expected to hear arguments from both parties until the end of January, though it remains unclear when a final ruling will be delivered.
The case is also being viewed in comparison with genocide proceedings instituted against Israel after South Africa filed a case accusing it of genocide in the Gaza Strip.
