The International Criminal Court (ICC) ruled that the court can prosecute crimes committed against Arakanese Muslims in Myanmar.

With the decision of the ICC, the unprecedented ruling paves the way for the court to investigate the Myanmar government over its massacres and relocations against Arakanese Muslims.

In a written statement made by the ICC, in deciding to proceed with its own case, the court used the cross-border nature of the mass exodus to bypass the challenge that Myanmar is not an ICC-signatory. Bangladesh, which sheltered the influx of refugees, last year, is a party to the Rome Statute that governs the court.

An independent commission of the United Nations has ruled last month that the Myanmar army has carried out mass rape and massacres against Arakanese Muslims with the intention of 'genocide'. The rapporteur, prepared by the Commission, was asked to prosecute the chief of the General Staff of Myanmar and the five generals responsible for the massacres.

ILKHA