A ruling by the International Criminal Court that it has jurisdiction over the alleged crime of deportation of hundreds of thousands of Myanmar’s Rohingya Muslims to Bangladesh during a military crackdown last year drew a swift rebuff on Friday from the Myanmar government, but was praised by rights groups that want to see those responsible for atrocities against the minority group brought to justice.
The ICC’s chief prosecutor in April requested a ruling on whether the international tribunal could exercise jurisdiction over the country for what she called the “alleged deportation” of more than 700,000 Rohingya from northern Rakhine state during a crackdown by security forces that began on Aug. 25, 2017, even though Myanmar is not a party to the Rome Treaty which established the court.
The ICC gave Myanmar a July 27 deadline to submit a written response to the request for a jurisdiction ruling, but the government failed to comply, called the request “meritless,” and said it should be dismissed.
Read the full story: https://www.rfa.org/english/news/myanmar/myanmar-swiftly-rejects-icc-ruling-09072018164016.html
