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Aung San Suu Kyi Defends Myanmar Against Genocide Claims

Marthe van der Wolf

   LONDON - Myanmar's leader and Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi has
   defended her government's actions before the [1]International Court of
   Justice in The Hague against genocide accusations. Speaking at the
   court Wednesday, she called the case against her country incomplete and
   misleading.

   Aung San Suu Kyi defended Myanmar's leadership against claims that
   genocide is happening in the country.

   "Can there be genocidal intent on the part of a state that actively
   investigates, prosecutes, and punishes soldiers and officers who are
   accused of wrongdoing?," she said.

   The hearings of the case against Myanmar at the United Nations' highest
   court started on Tuesday and included detailed accusations of mass
   killings, torture and rapes against members of the Muslim Rohingya
   minority. The Gambia brought the case to the court to ask for
   protection for the Rohingya. More than 700,000 have fled to neighboring
   Bangladesh since 2017.

   Aung San Suu Kyi, once seen as one of the world's greatest human rights
   defenders, argued Wednesday that the internal conflict might at most
   have led to potential violations of international humanitarian law.
   Alison Smith of the NGO No Peace Without Justice said she is eager to
   see what the court makes of the defense argument.

   "The fact that there may have been a conflict does not preclude that
   there might have been genocide. But also the experiences of the
   Rohingya, that we have been speaking with that were unveiled yesterday
   by the U.N. fact-finding mission, do not speak to an armed conflict but
   instead do speak to that genocide has taken place," she said.

References

   1. https://www.icj-cij.org/en/multimedia/5de79a721e1ac927e3c2eb56

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