ICJ hearings on Rohingya genocide begin today

The military junta-led Myanmar government is going to face the first legal challenge at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) today (December 10) for breaching 1948 Genocide Convention by carrying out mass murder, rape, and genocidal Acts against Muslim minority in Rakhine State of Myanmar.
More than 730,000 Rohingya fled Myanmar in 2017 after a brutal military-led crackdown the UN has said was executed with "genocidal intent" and included mass killings and rape.
It will be the first time the UN Court in Hague investigated genocide claims on its own without relying on the findings of other tribunals, such as the international criminal tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, which it consulted for claims against Serbia and Croatia.
Abubacarr Marie Tambadou, attorney general and justice minister of Gambia, will submit plea on behalf of OIC. Myanmar leader and Nobel peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi is set to defend the country against charges of genocide of the minority community.
Meanwhile, a 20-member Bangladesh delegation lead by Foreign Secretary (Asia-Pacific) Masud Bin Momen left for the Hauge on Monday to observe the situation as Bangladesh  will have no role to play during the hearings.
"Bangladesh delegation will network with other equal-minded stakeholders to make the case stronger and keep the people across the world aware of it," a senior official told the Daily Observer.
Abubacarr Marie Tambadou has filed the case on behalf of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). This case has apparently put Myanmar under real pressure, mainly because any decisions by the ICJ are binding on member states. The filing of this case was possible as both Gambia and Myanmar are signatories to the Genocide Convention. .
Gambia also asked the ICJ to impose provisional measures to protect the Rohingyas from further harm by ordering Myanmar to immediately stop all genocidal conducts there.
According to the international media report, a huge number of Rohingya delegation gathered there to witness the proceedings and supporting the case against Myanmar.
On November 18, the ICJ had decided to hold three days of hearings from December 10 to 12.
According to the schedule posted on the ICJ website, first round of oral observations will be delivered by Gambia from 10:00am to 1:00pm local time on Tuesday, while Myanmar will submit its oral arguments at the same time on Wednesday.
In the second round of oral observations on Thursday, Gambia will place arguments from 10:00am to 11:30am and Myanmar from 4:30pm to 6:00pm.
Meanwhile, Myanmar has vehemently rejected UN investigators' conclusions that it committed genocide, arguing they had carried out a legitimate operation against an armed Rohingya group called ARSA, a 'terrorist group'...but this time Myanmar is to face accusations of genocide at the UN's highest court over its treatment of Rohingya Muslims.
After that, the latest exodus of Rohingyas since August 25, 2017 had seen the arrival of about 730,000 Rohingyas to Bangladesh due to unprecedented atrocities orchestrated by the Myanmar security forces and their allies.