Judith BeyerJan 11
đŸ§¶ From 12 January, the #ICJ will hear #Gambia vs #Myanmar rgd. the #Rohingya issue. The highest court of the #UN dismissed Myanmar‘s prelim. objections in 2022 (see article). The issue at stake: did M. violate the UN #genocide convention? I will follow the hearings closely apnews.com/article/afri...

UN court rejects Myanmar claim...
UN court rejects Myanmar claims, will hear Rohingya case

Judges at the United Nations’ highest court have dismissed preliminary objections by Myanmar to a case alleging the Southeast Asian nation is responsible for genocide against the Rohingya ethnic minority. The decision Friday clears the way for the highly charged case, brought by Gambia, to go ahead at the International Court of Justice, a process that will take years. It sets the stage for court hearings airing evidence of atrocities against the Rohingya that human rights groups and a U.N. probe say amount to breaches of the 1948 Genocide Convention.

AP News
Show threadJudith BeyerJan 11
Background: On 11/11 2019, #TheGambia, on behalf of the 57 members of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, filed a case at the #ICJ alleging that #Myanmar failed to fulfill its obligations rgd #genocide prevention against the #Rohingya iimm.un.org/en/icj-gambi...

ICJ – The Gambia v. Myanmar | ...
ICJ – The Gambia v. Myanmar | Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar

Show threadJudith BeyerJan 11
This came after repeated attacks, mass displacement, cases of murder and rape and disappearing of #Rohingya had occurred in #Myanmar in 2016-2017. See all @[email protected] reports since 2016 www.hrw.org/tag/rohingya

Rohingya | Human Rights Watch
Rohingya | Human Rights Watch

The Rohingya have faced decades of discrimination and repression under successive Myanmar authorities. Effectively denied citizenship under the 1982 Citizenship Law, they are one of the largest stateless populations in the world. About one million Rohingya are currently living in overcrowded camps in Bangladesh, most of whom fled Myanmar in 2017 to escape the military’s crimes against humanity and possible genocide. The estimated 600,000 Rohingya who remain in Rakhine State are subject to persecution and violence, confined to camps and villages without freedom of movement, and cut off from access to adequate food, health care, education, and livelihoods.

Show threadJudith BeyerJan 12
Official schedule of #ICJ hearings in #TheGambia vs #Myanmar rgd #Rohingya - starting today, Monday 12/1 at 10am. You can follow live here: webtv.un.org/en
Show threadJudith BeyerJan 12
Joint press release of @[email protected], the Burmese #Rohingya Organisation UK, the Global Justice Center, Refugee Women for Peace and Justice and the Women's Peace Network on the upcoming #ICJ hearings. www.hrw.org/news/2026/01...

Myanmar: Critical Hearings in ...
Myanmar: Critical Hearings in Rohingya Genocide Case

International Court of Justice (ICJ) hearings in the Myanmar genocide case highlight the need for justice for the ethnic Rohingya.

Human Rights Watch
Show threadJudith BeyerJan 12
The #Rohingya victims delegation, whose statements will be heard in closed sessions from 21-25/1, have arrived in The Hague at the #ICJ with their lawyer, exec. director of “Legal Action Worldwide” (LAW), Antonia Mulvey, and their legal team.
Show threadJudith BeyerJan 12
direct link to the #ICJ hearings that start in 10min at 10.00am CET: webtv.un.org/en/asset/k1k...

THE HAGUE – The International ...
THE HAGUE – The International Court of Justice (ICJ) holds public hearings in the case The Gambia v. Myanmar

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) holds public hearings on the merits of the case concerning Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (The Gambia v. Myanmar: 11 States intervening) on 12 January 2026.

UN Web TV
Show threadJudith BeyerJan 12
It was just announced that #Myanmar again chose German criminal/int law Prof. Claus Kreß as ad-hoc judge. He already served in this role in 2019. This will make it even more complicated for me (being German) to explain to my Myanmar colleagues/friends how "Germany" can act "for Myanmar" in this case
Show threadJudith BeyerJan 12
Judge Iwasawa Yuji, President of the #ICJ Court, just explained that while #TheGambia has brought experts and witnesses to give statements, #Myanmar has only brought witnesses ... interesting strategy ... It was also decided that all witnesses will only be referred to, using pseudonyms.
Show threadJudith BeyerJan 12
The agent of The Gambia just started his statement, drawing on the Gambia's OWN experience of #genocide which gives them the moral obligation to act: "We did not bring this case to the #ICJ lightly... but #Myanmar appears to be trapped in a cycle of atrocities. Nobody has been held accountable..."
Show threadJudith BeyerJan 12
The agent talks about "the #Rohingya " ... who are farmers, teachers, laborers ... they are fathers, mothers, grandparents. "They are ordinary folk". Yes, but that is not all. They also used to be members of Parliament before they were deprived of their citizenship and made stateless. #statelessness
Show threadJudith BeyerJan 12
Criticism comes from #Rohingya themselves - here: Shafiur Rahman @[email protected], who not only want atrocities of the past in #Myanmar to be dealt with, but the present, incl. the conditions in the camps in #Bangladesh, just as well. www.rohingyarefugee.news/p/he-hague-r...

Why The Hague Feels Hollow for...
Why The Hague Feels Hollow for the Rohingya

As the ICJ resumes Rohingya genocide hearings, justice moves slowly while life in the camps remains defined by waiting, restriction, and suspended rights.

Rohingya Refugee News (RRN)
Show threadJudith BeyerJan 12
"If the Convention is diminished, we are diminished ... and the values of the post-war world..." Opening statement of the following attorney, who also reminds everyone that international law in general is under threat at this moment in history. So far: lots of comparisons way beyond the case.
Show threadJudith BeyerJan 12
The speaking attorney for #TheGambia not only referenced the genealogy of the concept of #genocide, but brought his own person copy of Raphael Lemkin's 1944 book in which the term was laid out for the first time to the #ICJ, encouraging everyone to read ch. 9. pdf: www.legal-tools.org/doc/b989dd/pdf
Show threadJudith BeyerJan 12
Interesting to me was the reference to #ASSK who is "imprisoned by the military" in #Myanmar - but without mentioning that, in 2019, it was her who sided with the military and appeared at the #ICJ. I published on this with @[email protected] : www.opendemocracy.net/en/transform...

Aung San Suu Kyi at the Intern...
Aung San Suu Kyi at the International Court of Justice: when the personal is political

Myanmar’s leader personally faces allegations while avoiding the task of changing the country’s trajectory.

openDemocracy
Show threadJudith BeyerJan 12
The current #ICJ hearings support the military to appear as "the state" of the Republic of #Myanmar as I argued: "When the ICJ reopens the case against Myanmar, the #Rohingya genocide is not a primary concern of the generals. Rather, it is to be ‘Myanmar’." allegralaboratory.net/who-gets-to-...

Who gets to be 'Myanmar' at th...
Who gets to be 'Myanmar' at the ICJ? - Allegra Lab

The Myanmar military will appear at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague on 21 February 2022. Their main interest does not lie in

Allegra Lab
Show threadJudith BeyerJan 12
It is important to understand that, also at the #ICJ, the role of experts is important. Today, #psychoanalysis and #anthropology were explicitly mentioned among others. "The court" is composed of people who learn (to judge) as humans. Law has to be interpreted always -our knowledge is key!
Show threadJudith BeyerJan 12
@philippesands.bsky.social brings out his personal copy of Raphael Lemkin's "Axis Rule in Occupied Europe" (1944) again, quoting him "... if these group should not be adequately protected, such lack...would result of int. disturbances... the persecuted would look for refuge elsewhere" #ICJ #Rohingya
Show threadJudith BeyerJan 12
After the break, the #ICJ hearings continue with The Gambia explaining why/how the court has relied on #UN reports in other cases where the #Genocide Convention was at stake. This, again, proves that the court draws on broad range of sources BEYOND those of strictly legal interpretations. #expertise
Show threadJudith BeyerJan 12
The Gambia mentions six #UN #FFM and #IIMM analytical reports in particular which have been products by fact-finding commissions, commissions of inquiry - they emanate from “disinterested witness”. Only #Myanmar objects to that, says the agent of The Gambia.
Show threadJudith BeyerJan 12
“Myanmar now invoked its own refusal to cooperate 
 although it was invited to do so five times, and even though the draft versions of the reports were shared
” says The Gambia.
Show threadJudith BeyerJan 12
very useful chart provided by the #IIMM on how the #ICJ operates, what the case #TheGambia vs #Myanmar is about, what happens after the hearings are over and why the case matters! iimm.un.org/sites/defaul...
Show threadJudith BeyerJan 12
The agent of The Gambia is ALSO quoting @[email protected] reporting - alongside the #IIMM and #FFM #UN reports. It is additional information that is used to corraborate evidence gathered elsewhere. So these reports are used as sources to which the #ICJ gives evidential weight! #Myanmar
Show threadJudith BeyerJan 12
There is something beautiful of having an agent of The Gambia advocating on behalf of the #Rohingya at the #ICJ. "Justice" is a very difficult concept to explain in the context of (int.) law, but this here is a proper way to teach the world that Rohingya belonged - long before "taingyintha" existed.
Show threadJudith BeyerJan 12
The agent now cites Nick Cheesman's work to explain the concept of "national races" (taingyntha) vs. that of citizenship (see, for example: www.newmandala.org/myanmars-nat...)

How Myanmar's 'national races'...
Show threadJudith BeyerJan 12
#UN Fact-finding mission identified wide discimination against #Rohingya rgd. their papers / status without providing reasons for these decisions. They are now among the largest group facing #statelessness worldwide. 1978 operation "Dragon King" led to the flight of over 200.000 Rohingya...
Show threadJudith BeyerJan 12
"Legal identity starts with the birth certificate" #Myanmar stopped registering #Rohingya babies' birth in the 1990s! #statelessness
Show threadJudith Beyer
"In Aung Mingalar, I heard the echoes of my childhood. You see, in 1944, as a Jew in Budapest, I too was a Rohingya." the agent of The Gambia is now citing George #Soros who had visited the camp ones ... #comparisons being made here that I think are really important to notice far beyond this case!
Jan 12 at 3:24pmWeb
Show threadJudith BeyerJan 12
After the #Soros comparison ("...in 1944, as a Jew in Budapest, I too was a Rohingya"), the agent of The Gambia compared the Nurenberg trials after the 2nd World War with the situation at the #ICJ regarding the #Rohingya case right now. #comparison
Show threadJudith BeyerJan 12
After a break, The Gambia continues with a presentation on hate speech and propaganda, esp. on Facebook. I have two PhD students working on these aspects, one of them a #Myanmar national who had to flee the country as a result of the attempted coup. See www.soziologie.uni-konstanz.de/beyer/forsch...

Aktuelle Forschungsprojekte | ...
Aktuelle Forschungsprojekte | Forschungsprojekte | Forschung | Professur fĂŒr Ethnologie mit Schwerpunkt Politische Anthropologie - Prof. Dr. Judith Beyer | Arbeitsgruppen | Fach Soziologie

Show threadJudith BeyerJan 13
Second Day of #ICJ hearings #TheGambia vs #Myanmar - there are no subtitles to the livestream. I assume because the court does not want to risk misinterpretation prone in (automated) translation ... if they don't allow it in juridical settings, why do we keep using it elsewhere? Words always matter.
Show threadJudith BeyerJan 13
I'm listening to this afternoon's #ICJ session as I was in meetings at my university throughout the day. You can find the video recording here: webtv.un.org/en/asset/k1q... I again emphasize that anyone working on other cases of ethnic cleansing/mass atrocities should pay attention to #Myanmar

THE HAGUE – The International ...
THE HAGUE – The International Court of Justice (ICJ) holds public hearings in the case The Gambia v. Myanmar

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) holds public hearings on the merits of the case concerning Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (The Gambia v. Myanmar: 11 States intervening) on 13 January 2026.

UN Web TV
Show threadJudith BeyerJan 13
"Clearance operations were ... foreseeable and planned," drawing comparison to #Bosnia #Serbia - genocidal intent present in both cases, The Gambia says. The agent then focuses particularly on the systematic killing of children. It began with restricting food. www.developmentaid.org/api/frontend...

developmentaid.org/api/frontend/c...
Show threadJudith BeyerJan 13
#Myanmar engaged in a concerted, multi-faceted effort ... to prepare the ground for ... the clearance operations." I am listening to gruesome details, knowing, that some of my closest Myanmar friends helped gather the evidence currently cited. They will forever remain anonymous. They are my heroes 🙏
Show threadJudith BeyerJan 14
3rd day of #ICJ starts with the most gruesome details of how #Rohingya were murdered by the #Myanmar military. There is a human side to be observed in court besides listening to acts of inhumanity: the agent was received by her team, representing #TheGambia, with reassuring words and a soft pat.
Show threadJudith BeyerJan 14
The agent of #TheGambia reports evidence of routinely coupling of mass rape of the mothers by soldiers of the #Myanmar army, WHILE their children were killed in front of them. It's unimaginable, but imagine we must. I wonder about the possibility of psychological counselling for agents / judges.
Show threadJudith BeyerJan 14
"Rape followed by killing is an obvious intent to destroy." "Mass gang rape as a notable pattern." "Assaults were in open areas, in schools and mosques in houses ... a total of 80% of cases of rape were gang rapes; 82% of rapes were committed by the #military - this means the rest were by civilians!
Show threadJudith BeyerJan 14
The following member of #TheGambia delegation explains why today, the delegates focus on #children - because through them, a group is (or is not) sustained. Also: "The focus of my presentation is not on the evidence, but on the legal significance of the evidence before you [the judges]"
Show threadJudith BeyerJan 14
I am continuing to watch the afternoon session on this 3rd day of the #ICJ hearings. The argument of "counterterrorism" (which seems to be the sole justification of #Myanmar) "does not hold" given the evidence provided by #TheGambia; Myanmar relies on three sources exclusively (cont.):
Show threadJudith BeyerJan 14
1. a military operational report (see screenshot)
Show threadJudith BeyerJan 14
2. Captain Maung's statement - "he is a serving military officer who personally participated in the clearance operation (of #Rohingya men, women, children, disabled, elderly) ..." "systematically flawed" account. "His statement is uncorroborated."
Show threadJudith BeyerJan 14
"In #Croatia vs #Serbia no evidential weight was given to statements by the acting police force - the same weight should be given to statements provided by #Myanmar" (see screenshots)
Show threadJudith BeyerJan 14
Small detail, but big issue: I am celebrating #TheGambia s diverse composition of their delegation. The current delegate speaking is a Muslim woman of colour who is wearing her legal wig on top of her headscarf - so cool!
Show threadJudith BeyerJan 14
@apnews.com reporting on #Rohingya clearance operations is being referenced as evidence in the #ICJ hearing by #TheGambia just now. I think it is important to see to which sources the delegation gives evidential weight. It goes far beyond UN reports and eye-witness accounts.
Show threadJudith BeyerJan 15
4th day of #ICJ hearings. I read some legal analyses of the ongoing case. They all miss the point: they ignore that who #Myanmar “is” changed from case opening in 2019-today #whatshappeninginMyanmar (attempted coup) explains changes in strategy. See my 2022 text allegralaboratory.net/who-gets-to-...

Who gets to be 'Myanmar' at th...
Who gets to be 'Myanmar' at the ICJ? - Allegra Lab

The Myanmar military will appear at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague on 21 February 2022. Their main interest does not lie in

Allegra Lab
Show threadJudith BeyerJan 15
External expert report of Prof. Michael Newton being cited by #TheGambia "The only plausible conclusion from the available evidence is that the 'clearance opertions' were conceived, coordinated, and conducted with the intention of destroying the Rohingya." No counter-expertise by #Myanmar provided.
Show threadJudith BeyerJan 15
@philippesands.bsky.social making an interesting distinction when explaining that the world DOES need #internationallaw, especially now: One should not give in to those who wish to live "...not in a lawless world, but in a world without laws." What is at stake at #ICJ is thus beyond #Myanmar case!
Show threadJudith BeyerJan 15
While the #ICJ hearings are proceeding, Timor-Leste levels a new case alleging war crimes and crimes against humanity against the #Myanmar military, supported by the Myanmar Accountability Project. eng.mizzima.com/2026/01/14/3... #whatshappeninginMyanmar

eng.mizzima.com/2026/01/14/302...
New human rights case against Myanmar junta brought before court in Timor-Leste - ENG.MIZZIMA.COM

Mizzima As the International Court of Justice (ICJ) begins hearings on the Rohingya genocide in the Hague brought by The


ENG.MIZZIMA.COM