HRC61 – Oral Statement on the situation of Rohingya and ethnic minorities in Myanmar
Accountability & Rule of Law - Gender Equality & GBV - Myanmar - Rohingya Crisis - Advocacy - Legal Aid & Empowerment
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?
HRC61 Side event – Accountability and Justice for Rohingya
On Thursday 12 March 2026, LAW was also part of an important side event to the 61st Session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva, Nine Years On: Advancing Accountability and Justice for the Durable Solution of the Rohingya Crisis.
The event was co-organised by the Permanent Delegation of the European Union to the United Nations Office and other international organizations in Geneva and the Permanent Mission of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh to reaffirm the urgent call for accountability and justice for the Rohingya, over a million of whom still live in camps in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, most having been displaced during the 2017 ‘clearance operations’ in Myanmar. The side event reflected on the ongoing international accountability mechanisms addressing the mass atrocities committed against the Rohingya in particular, the International Court of Justice Case between The Gambia and Myanmar on the application of the Genocide Convention.
Jack Torbet (Programme Manager) highlighted LAW’s critical role in ensuring meaningful Rohingya participation in international justice – most recently including LAW’s coordination of victim and witness delegations for the ICJ merits hearings in January 2026. In particular, he underscored the determination of the delegation members in pursing justice for the Rohingya – and reiterated some of the key points from the testimony the witness delegation provided. Jack was also able to make reference to LAW’s 2024 Rohingya perceptions of justice report (What Kind of Court is this?) and LAW’s December 2025 Report on the Lasting Impact of Genocide on Rohingya Children (They Wanted to Erase Us).
Alongside LAW on the panel were: H.E. Nahida Sobhan (Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh in Geneva), H.E. Mr. Muhammadou M.O. Kah, (Permanent Representative of the Republic of Gambia in Geneva), Thomas Andrews, (Special Rapporteur on the Situation of human rights in Myanmar), Kaoru Okuizumi, (Deputy Head of the UN Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (IIMM)), H.E. Mr. Michele Cervone D’Urso (Ambassador and Deputy Permanent Observer of the Permanent Delegation of the EU in Geneva) and Lucky Karim (Refugee Women for Peace and Justice, who provided a video message). Sandra Epal-Ratjen, from the International Commission of Jurists chaired the discussion.
The key message from the discussion was that ‘justice and accountability are therefore not a secondary objective but a pivotal pillar of sustainable resolution of the Rohingya crisis’.
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