III. Legal Framework and Analysis
74
crime of deportation of members of the Rohingya people, despite the fact that Myanmar is not a
State party to the Rome Statute.306 The Prosecutor argued that because an element of the crime of
deportation—the crossing of a border—occurred on the territory of Bangladesh, a State Party to the
Rome Statute, the Court has jurisdiction.307 The Court agreed and further held that the Court may
also exercise its jurisdiction with regard to “other crimes within the jurisdiction of the Court,” such
as the crimes against humanity of persecution and other inhumane acts against the Rohingya.308
The violations documented in this report associated with the NVC process and the denial of
citizenship are, therefore, within the jurisdiction of the Court to consider in its investigation into
potential crimes committed against the Rohingya in Myanmar, as they involve both the deportation
of the Rohingya and other acts constituting persecution.
The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), through the Government of the Gambia, intends to
bring a case regarding the crime of genocide against Rohingya to the International Court of Justice
(ICJ), providing another opportunity to conduct investigations into these violations.309
Evidence documented in this report raises important questions as to whether violations with
regards to the NVC process and the 1982 Citizenship Law caused serious mental harm to Rohingya
and/or deliberately inflicted on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical
destruction in whole or in part. Furthermore, evidence in this report raises important questions
as to whether the Government of Myanmar used the NVC process as a coercive measure to forcibly
deport Rohingya and single them out on discriminatory grounds.
Given the close links between deadly Myanmar Army-led attacks against Rohingya and the NVC
process and the denial of citizenship, the violations documented in this report bolster the findings
already made by the FFM and Fortify Rights regarding genocide and crimes against humanity. As
such, this chapter discusses the violations in terms of these frameworks, highlighting the need for
further attention.
Genocide
In accordance with Article 6 of the Rome Statute, the crime of genocide requires: (1) the commission
of one of five prohibited criminal acts enumerated by the Statute (2) against a protected national,
ethnic, racial, or religious group (3) with the intent to destroy the group in whole or part.310 For
the purposes of establishing the crime of genocide, the Rohingya are considered a distinct ethnic
group, and the Myanmar state security forces and non-Rohingya citizens have been found to hold
the requisite intent to destroy the Rohingya in whole or in part.311 Evidence documented in this
306 ICC, “Prosecution’s Request for a Ruling on Jurisdiction under Article 19(3) of the Statute,” April 9, 2018, para. 28.
307 Ibid.
308 ICC, Decision on the “Prosecution’s Request for a Ruling,” para. 74.
309 “Atrocities on Rohingyas: OIC for Suing Myanmar at ICJ,” The Jakarta Post, June 4, 2019, https://www.thejakartapost.
com/seasia/2019/06/04/atrocities-on-rohingyas-oic-for-suing-myanmar-at-icj.html (accessed August 23, 2019);
Organization of Islamic Cooperation, Resolutions on Muslim Communities and Muslim Minorities in the Non-OIC
Member States, adopted by the 46th session of the Council of Foreign Ministers, March 1-2, 2019, Doc. No. OIC/CFM46/2019/MM/RES/FINAL, https://www.oic-oci.org/docdown/?docID=4447&refID=1250 (accessed August 26, 2019).
310 The five prohibited acts are: killing members of the identified protected group; causing serious bodily or mental
harm to members of the protected group; deliberately inflicting on the protected group conditions of life calculated
to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; imposing measures intended to prevent births within the
protected group; forcibly transferring children of the protected group to another group. Rome Statute, Art. 6.
311 This chapter analyzes whether the violations documented in this report qualify as one or more of the prohibited
criminal acts to establish the crime of genocide. For a full analysis of the other two elements—establishing that the
crime was committed against a protected national, ethnic, racial, or religious group and with the intent to destroy
the group in whole or part, see, Fortify Rights, “They Gave Them Long Swords.” See also, Human Rights Council, Report
of the Detailed Findings of the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar.
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