Earlier this year an Argentine court ordered the first arrest warrants against Myanmar’s military leadership for genocide following the 2017 clearance operations against the Rohingya community of Myanmar.
A United Nations Fact-Finding Mission had described the attacks as having genocidal intent, as they forced more than a hundred thoudand to flee across the Bangladesh border. Sexual and Gender based Crimes were identified as one of the key factors that to show that genocidal intent.
In 2023, seven witnesses went to Buenos Aires federal criminal court to give testimony at investigative hearings held under the principle of universal jurisdiction. Ishita Kumar of Legal Action Worldwide accompanied them. Their testimonies during the investigative hearings – especially their account of sexual violence were “coherent, detailed, impactful, clearly undermine the Myanmar authorities’ counter-insurgency narrative” she says and contributed to the Prosecutor’s arrest warrant application amongst other evidence.
She talks about link between the SGBV and Genocide The report she mentions: Research Report: “Every Day, I Remember They Destroyed My Life” – Legal Action Worldwide inquired into the psychological, medical and anthropological consequences of the sexual violence in the Rohingya community, and provided a legal analysis of how these consequences relate to the crime of genocide. It studies the impact of SGBV committed not only against the Rohingya women but also Rohingya men and hijra (transgender, intersex).
We asked her about the group called Shanti Mohila. Antonia Mulvey of LAW wrote about them here. The women have been involved in the International Court of Justice genocide case as well. We’ve covered many times including here and here. And I’m sure we will look again at gender and genocide – check our pod with Akila Radhakrishnan here – and the extent of state responsibility for genocide and reparations.
Ishita relaxes with anime the anime and recommends Attack on Titan (“in fact it does explore themes around crimes against a persecuted group now that I think of it !”, she says) And she recommends a forthcoming documentary A Dream Called Khushi which means ‘happiness’ about the Rohingya refugee experience.
