World Court Set to Rule in Myanmar Genocide Case

(The Hague) - The International Court of Justice has announced that it will deliver its judgment on November 19, 2026, in the case brought by Gambia against Myanmar for alleged violations of the Genocide Convention, Human Rights Watch said today in releasing a question-and-answer document on key issues in the case.

In August 2017, Myanmar's security forces began a sweeping campaign of massacres, rape, and arson against ethnic Rohingya in northern Rakhine State that forced more than 700,000 people to flee to neighboring Bangladesh. In November 2019, Gambia filed a case before the International Court of Justice alleging that Myanmar's atrocities against the Rohingya constitute genocide and violate the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. This is not a criminal case against individuals, but a request for a legal determination of Myanmar's state responsibility for genocide.

"The International Court of Justice's Myanmar judgment will mark a crucial moment in the Rohingya's quest for justice," said Maria Elena Vignoli, senior international justice counsel at Human Rights Watch. "The ruling will also be a stark reminder that the oppression of the Rohingya is ongoing, and that rights-respecting countries need to act decisively to support them, promote justice for atrocities, and ensure their safe and voluntary return."

The judgment, which is final with no possibility to appeal, will conclude the proceedings in this case before the court.