Junta to join ICJ hearings

Myanmar's military junta is to take part in hearings at the top United Nations court in The Hague next week despite a complaint from political opponents that this could give it international recognition without legal standing. 

The hearings complicate a jurisdictional dispute arising from Gambia's claim filed in 2019 at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), also known as the World Court, accusing Myanmar of genocide against its minority Muslim Rohingya population.

More than 730,000 Rohingya fled Myanmar after a military-led crackdown in 2017 and were forced into squalid camps across the border in Bangladesh. UN investigators concluded that the military campaign had been executed with "genocidal intent".

Before the fall of Aung San Suu Kyi's civilian National Unity Government (NUG) to a military coup a year ago, she disputed the genocide allegations against the military brought by Gambia, a mainly Muslim African country backed in this case by the 57-nation Organisation for Islamic Cooperation.

Now, junta representatives are expected to attend virtual hearings at the ICJ - which handles disputes between states - dealing with a fight between the military and the NUG for recognition at the court. Hearings are set to begin on Monday.

The ICJ has yet to consider the merits of the genocide accusation. Suu Kyi in December 2019 called on the World Court to dismiss Gambia's claim, denying genocide and saying the ICJ should not have jurisdiction.

"The junta's presence at the hearings doesn't impart legitimacy or validate the representation of the military before the United Nations," said Shayna Bauchner, a researcher for New York-based Human Rights Watch. She said the more important focus should be on justice being served over atrocities against the Rohingya in Myanmar.