Owen Bowcott - Aung San Suu Kyi criticised in court over 'silence' on Myanmar rape claims
Aung San Suu Kyi has been told her silence over allegations of sexual
violence and rape carried out against Rohingya people in Myanmar “says far more
than your words”, on the third day of the international court of justice’s
hearing into accusations of genocide. Prof Philippe Sands QC
told the court in The Hague: “Not a word [has been said by Aung San Suu Kyi]
about the women and girls of Myanmar who have been
subjected to these awful serial violations. Madame Agent [her status in court],
your silence says far more than your words.”
Myanmar has not
disputed at the ICJ hearing reports that 392 villages were destroyed in
military clearance operations, or commented on widespread allegations of
organised sexual violence and rape, the court was told. Sands was speaking for
the Gambia, which
has brought the charge that Myanmar’s military carried out mass
murder, rape and destruction of Rohingya Muslim communities.
It alleges there have
been “extrajudicial killings … sexual violence, burning of homes and
destruction of livestock … calculated to bring about a destruction of the Rohingya group in
whole or in part”. Sands told the
tribunal that one of the lawyers representing Myanmar - Prof William Schabas,
of Middlesex University – said during an interview
with al-Jazeera in 2013 that the situation in Myanmar was approaching
genocide. Sands read from Schabas’s interview, in which he said: “We are moving
into a zone where the word [genocide] can be used in the case of the Rohingya.”...
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/dec/12/myanmar-military-incapable-of-looking-into-abuses-court-told
