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World Court to hear Myanmar genocide case in January

December 20, 2025/in News

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) will hear a landmark case accusing Myanmar of committing genocide against its minority Muslim group, the Rohingya, on January 12-29, the United Nations’ top court said on Friday. The proceedings are expected to set precedents that could affect South Africa’s case against Israel over the war in Gaza, as this will […]

Mrauk-U hospital bombing deepens healthcare crisis in Rakhine State

December 17, 2025/in News

After the Myanmar Air Force carried out airstrikes on the People’s Hospital in Mrauk-U Township, Arakan State, other hospitals are no longer able to operate openly for fear of being targeted, forcing them to relocate or operate as mobile units, making it increasingly difficult for Mrauk-U residents to access healthcare. The inability to operate hospitals […]

World Court to hear Myanmar genocide case in January

December 20, 2025/in News

Mrauk-U hospital bombing deepens healthcare crisis in Rakhine State

December 17, 2025/in News

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World Court to hear Myanmar genocide case in January

December 20, 2025/in News

The proceedings are expected to set precedents that could affect South Africa’s case against Israel over the war in Gaza, as this will be the first genocide case the ICJ has heard on its merits in more than a decade.

In the first week of the hearings, Gambia — a predominantly Muslim West African country — will outline its case from January 12 to 15. Backed by the Organisation for Islamic Cooperation (OIC), Gambia filed the case at the ICJ in 2019, accusing Myanmar of committing genocide against the Rohingya.

Myanmar, which has denied genocide, can present its side from January 16 to January 20.

In an unusual move, the ICJ — also known as the World Court — has also allocated three days for hearing witnesses. These hearings will be closed to the public and media.

UN mission concluded Myanmar 2017 campaign included ‘genocidal acts‘

A U.N. fact-finding mission concluded that a 2017 military campaign by Myanmar that drove 730,000 Rohingya into neighbouring Bangladesh had included “genocidal acts”.

Myanmar rejected the U.N. findings as “biased and flawed”. It says its crackdown was aimed at Rohingya rebels who had carried out attacks.

The case is being brought under the 1948 Genocide Convention, enacted in the wake of the mass murder of Jews in the Nazi Holocaust, which defines genocide as “acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group”.

Both Myanmar and Gambia have signed the Genocide Convention, which gives the top U.N. court jurisdiction in the case.

Acts of genocide named in the convention include killing members of the group, causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group and deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about the destruction of the group in whole or in part.

Since the 1948 Genocide Convention, the ICJ has only confirmed one episode of genocide, the 1995 Srebrenica massacre of some 8,000 Muslim men and boys by Bosnian Serb troops during the 1990s war that tore apart the former Yugoslavia.

The findings of the ICJ in this case could become important in any future genocide case, specifically as Gambia and a number of intervening states in the case including Canada, France, Germany and the United Kingdom have argued that genocide is not limited to only mass killings.

The intervening countries said in written filings that the court should not only focus on the number of dead to establish genocidal intent, but also look at forced displacement, crimes against children and sexual and gender-based crimes.

REUTERS

DVB

Mrauk-U hospital bombing deepens healthcare crisis in Rakhine State

December 17, 2025/in News

The inability to operate hospitals in proper locations, combined with a land and sea blockade by the military since the Arakan Army (AA) launched its offensive in November 2023, has compounded the crisis with hospitals unable to receive a sufficient amount of medicines. This poses serious challenges for residents in need of emergency treatment.

“After the bombing of Mrauk-U Hospital, getting healthcare has become really tough. This hospital was a major medical center that the people of Arakan depended on. Because Mrauk-U is easy to reach, many patients relied on it. But after the airstrike, accessing care has become much more difficult for everyone,” a Rathedaung Township resident told Development Media Group (DMG) on the condition of anonymity.

The AA has called on international and humanitarian organizations to donate as much medicine and medical equipment as possible to help patients following the regime airstrikes on Mrauk-U Hospital on Dec. 10. Mrauk-U was seized by the AA on Feb. 8, 2024.

The AA’s political wing, the United League of Arakan (ULA), stated that the regime airstrikes on Mrauk-U Hospital completely halted all healthcare services, causing severe hardship and even deaths due to lack of emergency medical care.

“Getting treatment elsewhere is really hard because transportation is difficult and expensive. Living and food costs are also high. Some patients just can’t afford to get the medical care they need,” the Rathedaung resident told DMG.

Other hospitals in Arakan State are no longer able to operate in fixed locations, and some have closed entirely over security concerns. At least 33 people were killed and around 80 were injured in the airstrikes.

The U.N. stated that it was deeply alarmed by the attack on the Mrauk-U Hospital. It called on all parties to “observe obligations under international humanitarian and international human rights law,” while highlighting the fact that Arakan is in need of a large humanitarian response.

The ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR) accused the regime of committing a war crime by attacking a hospital. Under international law, the targeting of civilian infrastructure like hospitals is considered a crime.

“The hospital bombing is really devastating and has made life very hard for the people of Arakan. Health is so important, but now there’s no hospital to rely on. Health issues can happen anytime, some people might have minor illnesses, and others could be emergency cases. But now, even if people are sick, they don’t dare go to clinics or hospitals because they’re afraid of airstrikes,” a Mrauk-U resident told DMG.

Residents across Arakan, living in the 14 townships under AA control, are constantly in fear of regime airstrikes as Naypyidaw has its sights set on getting the third and final member of the Brotherhood Alliance to the negotiating table in China to broker a ceasefire, as it has already done with the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) in October and the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) in January.

The AA and residents claimed that the regime is deliberately targeting civilians at public gathering places, hospitals, clinics, schools, and markets.

It added that 192 civilians have been killed, 502 others have been injured, and 596 homes have been destroyed by 92 regime airstrikes on Sittwe, Pauktaw, Rathedaung, Ponnagyun, Kyauktaw, Minbya, Mrauk-U, Ann, Taungup, Ramree, Kyaukphyu, Gwa townships in Arakan, as well as Paletwa Township in southern Chinland, which was seized by the AA in 2024, over the last year.

At least 1,724 civilians have been killed and 3861 others have been injured in 1,852 aerial attacks carried out by the regime’s Air Force since the earthquake on March 28, according to DVB data.

BNI

DVB

Spring Revolution

Civil Society Position Paper on ASEAN’s Goal of a Myanmar-Owned and -Led SolutionDecember 18, 2024 - 12:11 pm
Recommendations to ASEAN and Its Member States (1) Move beyond the 5PC to achieve a Myanmar people-led and people-centered solution to the crisis in Myanmar. ASEAN’s “Myanmar-owned and -led” approach must be backed by genuine political will that aligns with and supports the collective aspirations of the people of Myanmar. (2) Cease all pressure on […]
The Airstrikes after the journey to the China of the Junta Military LeaderDecember 10, 2024 - 1:28 pm
Operation 1027 was a coordinated military attack against the junta on October 27th, 2023. It was carried out by the Northern Brotherhood, which includes the Arakan Army, Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, and the Ta’ang National Liberation Army. Several months later, the Three Brotherhood Alliance held three meetings to negotiate with China on January 11 […]
Human Rights Situation weekly update (September 15 to 21, 2024)September 27, 2024 - 8:26 am
Human Rights Violations took place in States and Regions from Sep 15 to 21, 2024 Military Junta Troop launched airstrikes and dropped bombs in Sagaing Region, Mandalay Region, Shan State, Chin State, Rakhine State, and Kachin State from September 15th to 21st. The Military Junta committed arresting, occupying the properties, threatening by using power, and […]

Multimedia

GenocideSeptember 2, 2025 - 9:42 am
Crimes Against HumanityJune 16, 2025 - 7:55 am
International Humanitarian Law Cartoon AnimatonApril 29, 2025 - 8:37 am
အတိတ်မှ ဆိုးရွားသည့် အကြီးအကျယ် လူ့အခွင့်အရေးချိုးဖောက်မှုများ ထပ်မံမဖြစ်ပွားစေရေးအ တွက် အာမခံခြင်း (Guarantees of non-recurrence)February 10, 2025 - 9:58 am

ND Burma

ND-Burma formed in 2004 in order to provide a way for Burma human rights organizations to collaborate on the human rights documentation process. The 13 ND-Burma member organizations seek to collectively use the truth of what communities in Burma have endured to advocate for justice for victims. ND-Burma trains local organizations in human rights documentation; coordinates members’ input into a common database using Martus, a secure open-source software; and engages in joint-advocacy campaigns.

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