HRC61 – Oral Statement on the situation of Rohingya and ethnic minorities in Myanmar

HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL 61st Session

Statement by Legal Action Worldwide (LAW)

ID with the High Commissioner on the Oral Update on Rohingya Muslims and Other Minorities in Myanmar (HRC Resolution 56/1)

27 February 2026

Mme. Vice-President, Excellencies,

We thank the High Commissioner for his update.

Last month, Legal Action Worldwide accompanied a delegation of Rohingya witnesses from the camps in Cox’s Bazar to the International Court of Justice in The Hague.

They testified at the merits hearings in the genocide case brought by The Gambia against Myanmar for the atrocities committed during the 2017 “clearance operations”.

For three weeks, the Court was presented with an overwhelming amount of evidence of the Myanmar military’s genocidal operations.

Witness NJ shared how soldiers stabbed and threw her infant child into a fire.

Witness MN – the sole survivor of a mass execution of more than 80 men in his village – described the piles of bodies, including those of his elderly father and his eight-year-old nephew.

Witness MS told the judges how his daughter was shot in the back while fleeing the attack by the Myanmar military.

By allowing theses testimonies, the World Court demonstrated one simple fact: when States have the courage to speak up and leverage accountability pathways, when frontline defenders and UN bodies are able to collect evidence, and when victims bravely come forward, accountability and reparations are not mere concepts but attainable outcomes.

Justice and accountability for the Rohingya and other ethnic minorities in Myanmar are within reach.

Mme. Vice-President,

Given the increasing violence against ethnic minorities across Myanmar, what can the Council do to ensure that victims’ testimonies are safely and promptly collected so that grave violations and crimes are properly documented and prosecuted?

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HRC60: LAW’s statement on the situation in Myanmar