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<\/a><\/p>\nPublished On 14 Jan 202614 Jan 2026<\/p>\n
An international court case accusing Myanmar of committing genocide<\/a> against its mostly Muslim Rohingya minority is \u201cflawed and unfounded\u201d, the country\u2019s Ministry of Foreign Affairs says.<\/p>\n In a statement published by state media on Wednesday, Myanmar\u2019s military government hit out at the genocide case, which has been brought to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, Netherlands, by The Gambia.<\/p>\n Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list<\/p>\n \u201cThe allegations made by The Gambia are flawed and unfounded in fact and law,\u201d the Foreign Ministry said.<\/p>\n \u201cBiased reports, based on unreliable evidence, cannot make up for truth,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n Myanmar\u2019s military rulers, who seized power in 2021, are cooperating with the ICJ case \u201cin good faith\u201d in a sign of respect for international law, the statement added.<\/p>\n The Gambia filed the case against Myanmar at the ICJ, also known as the World Court, in 2019, two years after the country\u2019s military launched an offensive that forced about 750,000 Rohingya<\/a> from their homes, mostly into neighbouring Bangladesh.<\/p>\n Survivors of the military operation recounted mass killings, rapes and arson attacks. Today, about 1.17 million Rohingya live crammed into dilapidated refugee camps in Cox\u2019s Bazar in Bangladesh.<\/p>\n On the opening day of the trial on Monday, Gambian Justice Minister Dawda Jallow told the court the Rohingya \u201chave been targeted for destruction\u201d in Myanmar.<\/p>\n Lawyers for military-ruled Myanmar will begin their court response on Friday.<\/p>\n Included \u2018genocidal acts\u2019<\/p>\n The trial is the first genocide case the ICJ has taken up in full in more than a decade, and its outcome will have repercussions beyond Myanmar, likely affecting South Africa\u2019s petition against Israel<\/a> over its genocidal war in Gaza. The hearings will span three weeks.<\/p>\n The human rights chief of the United Nations at the time of the crackdown in Myanmar called it a \u201ctextbook example of ethnic cleansing\u201d, and a UN fact-finding mission concluded that the military\u2019s 2017 offensive had included \u201cgenocidal acts\u201d. But authorities in Myanmar rejected the report, claiming its military offensive was a legitimate counterterrorism campaign in response to attacks by Rohingya armed groups.<\/p>\n Wednesday\u2019s statement by Myanmar\u2019s Foreign Ministry did not use the word Rohingya, instead referring to \u201cpersons from Rakhine state\u201d.<\/p>\n The Rohingya are not recognised as an official minority in Myanmar, which denies them citizenship despite many having roots in the country stretching back centuries.<\/p>\n A final decision in the Rohingya genocide case could take months or even years, and while the ICJ has no means of enforcing its decisions, a ruling in favour of The Gambia would likely place more political pressure on Myanmar.<\/p>\n