hearings on the preliminary objections, amidst widespread criticism.ix A decision on the preliminary objections has yet to be issued by the Court. In March, the United States Department of State determined that the Myanmar military had committed genocide against the Rohingya people. Tun Khin said, “This designation lets Rohingya know that their voices have been heard amid the cruel suffering they continue to endure.”x A joint statement issued by more than 350 Myanmar civil society organisations and regional and international partners welcomed the determination, in a powerful expression of solidarity with the Rohingya: ‘As the long-awaited recognition of the atrocity crimes being determined by the US government is here, urgent actions must be taken towards criminal prosecution for these crimes and to ensure the protection of the remaining Rohingya in Rakhine State whose situation continues to be dire. Otherwise, this determination will languish as rhetoric and only serve to further embolden the Myanmar military that not only continues to implement its policies of genocide and persecute the remaining 600,000 Rohingya in Rakhine State, but is committing war crimes and crimes against humanity against the people across the country.’xi Until the ICJ case reaches its conclusion, the State of Myanmar is obliged to report to the Court every six months on its compliance with the provisional measures ordered by the Court in January 2020, with the latest report due by 23 May 2022. The primary purpose of the order is to protect the Rohingya remaining in Myanmar from irreparable harm. With this briefing, BROUK aims to shine a light on the often-forgotten situation of the 130,000 Rohingya in central Rakhine State expelled from their homes in State-orchestrated violence in 2012-2013, who have been confined to camps in dire conditions for the past decade. Acts of genocide, when committed with the intent to destroy a group in whole or in part, are not limited to mass killings. They include creating circumstances that would lead to a ‘slow death’ such as the ‘deliberate deprivation of resources indispensable for survival’xii, like shelter, food, water, sanitation facilities and access to medical care. The Gambia v. Myanmar genocide case at the ICJ A. Background to the ICJ case In 2016 and 2017, BROUK and many other human rights organisations documented gross human rights violations perpetrated by the Tatmadaw (Myanmar armed forces) and its proxies during ‘clearance operations’ in Myanmar’s Rakhine State, resulting in significant loss of life among the Rohingya.xiii These included mass rape of Rohingya women, children burned alive, machete attacks, shooting at fleeing villagers, the use of rocket launchers to raze entire Rohingya villages to the ground, coordinated massacres, as well as landmines laid at the border to target those fleeing the violence.xiv In March 2017, the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar (UNFFM) was established by the UN Human Rights Council with a mandate to ‘establish the facts and circumstances of the alleged recent human rights violations by military and security forces…in Myanmar, in particular in Rakhine State...with a view to ensuring full accountability for perpetrators and justice for victims.’xv It published two seminal reports of its detailed findings in 2018 and 2019.xvi The UNFFM found that Myanmar had committed four out of the five underlying acts of genocide enumerated in the Genocide Convention, namely killings members of the Rohingya group, causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group, deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part, and imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group.xvii It further concluded that genocidal intent to destroy the Rohingya people in whole or in part could be inferred from the State’s pattern of conduct.xviii On 11 November 2019, the Gambia filed a case against Myanmar before the ICJ, alleging that Myanmar has committed genocide against the Rohingya people. The ICJ is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations. It deals with disputes between States, not the individual criminal responsibility of particular perpetrators. The legal basis for the case is the Genocide Convention, to which both States are a party. The 3