Rohingyas finally await justice

The Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) has expressed optimism that justice will finally be done to Rohingyas though this is going to be a long, hard and challenging process of investigation.

"Justice will be done ultimately," Phakiso Mochochoko, Director of Jurisdiction, Cooperation and Complementarity, told reporters at a briefing on Tuesday afternoon noting that the investigation has begun already.

In November 2019, ICC Judges authorised the request by ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda to investigate alleged crimes against humanity committed against the Rohingya people from Myanmar.

He came to Bangladesh as part of ongoing activities by the ICC Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) in accordance with its mandate under the Rome Statute, concerning the Rohingya situation.

The general overall purpose of this visit is outreach - to engage with relevant stakeholders and explain the judicial process and the status of the investigation to the public, it said.

Bangladesh is now hosting over 1.1 million Rohingyas in Cox’s Bazar district and most of them entered Bangladesh since August 25, 2017 amid military crackdown in Rakhine State of Myanmar against Rohingyas.

In a sweeping legal victory for members of the Rohingya Muslim minority, the United Nations' top court - International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordered Myanmar to take all measures in its power to prevent genocide against the Rohingya people.

The court's president, Judge Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf, said the International Court of Justice "is of the opinion that the Rohingya in Myanmar remain extremely vulnerable, reports UNB.