World Court sets a date to rule on The Gambia's genocide case against Myanmar

3 November 2026

The International Court of Justice has fixed 19 November 2026 as the day it will give judgment in The Gambia's case against Myanmar under the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. Filed in November 2019, the case argues that Myanmar's treatment of the Rohingya breached that Convention. More than 700,000 Rohingya fled to neighbouring Bangladesh after Myanmar's security forces began a campaign in northern Rakhine State in August 2017. The Court, which sits at the Peace Palace in The Hague, is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations and decides disputes between States. Its judgments in such contentious cases are final and binding on the parties. Under the Convention, any State party may bring another before the Court over a breach of its terms, whether or not it has itself been harmed.