Cooperation (OIC), in a major diplomatic breakthrough, unanimously adopted a resolution to move at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for establishing the legal rights of the Rohingyas and addressing the question of accountability and justice.
The resolution to pursue a legal recourse through the ICJ came after a long series of negotiations to seek accountability for crimes committed against humanity and gross violation of human rights in the case of the Rohingyas in Myanmar, said a Foreign Ministry press release today.
The Gambia led the process with a 10-member high-powered ministerial committee. The Committee’s first meeting was co-chaired by the Gambia in Banjul on the 10th of February 2019.
It recommended taking legal steps for establishing legal rights on the principles of international law – specifically the Genocide Convention and other Human Rights and Humanitarian Law principles.
This unanimous measure sets a precedent for the OIC in pursuing the legal path to justice to address crimes committed against humanity and for establishing the legal rights of the Rohingya population to their rightful homeland in the Rakhine state of Myanmar.
The Committee’s decision was endorsed in a full-fledged resolution and adopted in the final session of the 46th Council of Foreign Ministers in Abu Dhabi on the last day of the Council meeting.
Bangladesh Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen led a high-powered delegation to the council and to the negotiations in the Special Committee in this regard.
Since independence, Africa’s smallest country fondly call the “Smiling Coast” has championed several human rights course including the founding of the African Charter for Human and People’s Rights.
This make Banjul the home of human rights in Africa, thus hosting the continent’s leading rights protection mechanisms. The adoption of the resolution is a tap at the back for Gambia’s justice ministry that has worked so hard for its success.
Source: The Daily Star
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