Read the paper: LAW_SAC-M_Position_Paper_Roadmap_Preparing for ICJ Judgement_Gambia v. Myanmar _ SEP 26
The forthcoming judgment from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Gambia v. Myanmar case is a landmark opportunity to advance the Rohingya people’s fight for justice and to strengthen the international obligation to prevent and punish genocide wherever it occurs.
This joint position paper by Legal Action Worldwide (LAW) and SAC-M explores a range of plausible judicial outcomes and their respective legal, diplomatic and operational implications for Myanmar’s military junta and for states around the world.
The paper is a call for Myanmar’s pro-democracy revolutionary movement, states, international organisations, civil society, donors, and foremost Rohingya communities to prepare now—not after the judgment is delivered—for every plausible outcome.
The ICJ has never found a state directly responsible for the commission of genocide. The strongest possible judgment in this case—a finding against Myanmar under Article III(a) of the Genocide Convention—would carry unprecedented legal, diplomatic, and reputational consequences for Myanmar’s military junta. Such a finding would also carry significant implications for all states, including Myanmar, under international customary law, as set out in the International Law Commission’s Articles on Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful Acts (2001).
Other plausible scenarios explored in the paper include findings of partial state responsibility under the Genocide Convention, a breach of the Court’s 2020 provisional measures order, a mixed judgment, or a finding that the crime of genocide has not been legally established.
Whichever way the Court rules, the international response must be immediate, coordinated, and grounded in the rights of Rohingya victims and survivors. With a judgment imminent, now is the moment for states to move from solidarity to preparation, and from preparation to action.
Read the paper: LAW_SAC-M_Position_Paper_Roadmap_Preparing for ICJ Judgement_Gambia v. Myanmar _ SEP 26