By Stephanie van den Berg and Toby Sterling

The Hague (Reuters) – Monday saw the World Court hear preliminary arguments in a case against Myanmar, demanding it stop genocide alleged against its Rohingya Muslim minorities. Representatives of the junta appeared for Myanmar.

Joan Donoghue (presiding judge) briefly spoke about the dispute over the rights of the Southeast Asian nation to be represented at the U.N. courts after its military takeover a year earlier.

United Nations General Assembly does not recognize Aung San Suu Kyi’s junta for having detained her as a civil leader in a coup that took place last February.

Monday marked the beginning of four days of hearings on the junta’s objections regarding the court’s jurisdiction, formerly known as the International Court of Justice. It could take several months for a decision to be reached.

But, the junta still wants Myanmar to be its formal representative. However, the parallel civilian National Unity Government is made up of members from the overthrown administration and other junta critics and accepts the court’s jurisdiction. It also wishes to be Myanmar’s representative.

Gambia was the first to bring the case before the ICJ. Gambia is a West African country that has a large Muslim population. It was supported by the 57 member Organisation for Islamic Cooperation.

Gambia claims that Myanmar violated the Genocide Convention. She cites events from 2017, in which more than 730,000 Rohingya Muslims fled Myanmar to neighboring Bangladesh following a military crackdown. An U.N. fact finding mission found that the military campaign contained “genocidal acts”.

The Myanmar military refutes the allegation and says it was carrying out a legal counter-insurgency campaign.

Before calling on Ko Ko Hlaing, the new Myanmar representative, Judge Donoghue reminded the court that all parties to cases are states and not specific governments.

Ko Ko Hlaing works as the minister for international co-operation for the junta. Although he stressed the inadmissibility of the Myanmar case because it was not within the jurisdiction of the court, he said the junta would cooperate.

He said that Myanmar raised these objections in the utmost respect for the court.

No Legal Standing

The junta’s lawyers argued Monday that Gambia is a proxy of others and has no legal standing.

On Wednesday, the second day for hearings is set and lawyers from Gambia can respond.

Twenty protestors gathered outside the court, braved heavy rain and strong winds to protest the arrival of the junta officials.

Zin Minhun said to Reuters that “The military dictatorship not only kills Rohingya, but also all the ethnic groups.”

A news conference was held in front of the court by the Foreign Minister of the National Unity Government. He asked judges not to recognize representatives from the junta.

Suu Kyi appeared in Hague in 2019 for preliminary hearings. There, she denied the genocide.

The court ordered Myanmar in a 2020 ruling to act quickly to save the Rohingya.

Ambia Perveen from the European Rohingya Council stated to reporters that the junta did not represent the peoples of Myanmar but it was vital the case proceed.

She stated that “the perpetrators of genocide need to be prosecuted.”

A decision regarding the merits could be made by Gambia in years if the court grants jurisdiction.