Argentinian Court hears the appeal of the only case regarding the Rohingyas’s genocide.

The Federal Criminal Appeal Court in Buenos Aires will hear the appeal of the only pending case of universal jurisdiction related to the genocide and crimes against humanity committed against the Rohingya community in Myanmar. In 2019, the Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK (BROUK) filed a complaint before one of Argentina’s criminal courts over the crimes of mass killings, sexual violence, torture and forced displacement committed in Myanmar against Rohingyas. The case has already faced dismissal by this lower court, which pointed out the inadmissibility of the case before the Argentinian jurisdiction, once that a similar investigation was already running before the International Criminal Court. The complainant appealed the decision. The trial will count with the testimonies of several victims of the horrific acts committed against the Rohingya people at the hands of Myanmar’s army in 2017. In BROUK’s view, the decision of the Argentinian Court will set an important milestone to understand if states can prosecute crimes at their domestic jurisdiction when the ICC is also investigating them. It is worth remembering that the investigations at the ICC refer to crimes committed against Rohingya people in Bangladesh, once this country has ratified the Rome Statute. This is not the case of Myanmar. Therefore, a decision pro-Rohingya people in Argentina will become a piece of strong evidence that universal jurisdiction might work as a complementary ally of the ICC to tackle impunity regarding gross Human Rights violations, and not an obstacle because there is not a conflict of jurisdiction between the ICC and the domestic court of Argentina. For further information, please visit: https://trialinternational.org/latest-post/universal-jurisdiction-case-in-argentina-an-important-decision-for-the-rohingyas/?utm_content=&utm_campaign=social&utm_source=linkedin&utm_medium=TRIAL+International