The Gambia is bringing proceedings before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) accusing Myanmar of genocide against the Rohingya minority. In relation to this, in June 2020, the Gambia initiated discovery proceedings before a US District Court. It requested the court to compel Facebook to release data on “suspended or terminated” accounts of Myanmar officials and institutions, which are believed to contain incriminating evidence of genocidal intent. 

BACKGROUND OF THE ICJ CASE

An estimated 6,200,000 Rohingya have had to flee a military crackdown in Myanmar, with rights groups documenting widespread killings, rapes, and burning down of villages.  These are only some of the abuses suffered by the Rohingya people. Amnesty International has described this “intense campaign of violence” as “systematic, organized and ruthless”. 

 The behaviour of officials in Myanmar is discriminatory and abusive of the rights of the predominantly Muslim minority group. With Myanmar authorities restricting access to humanitarian aid, those who remain in Rohingya villages are still at risk.

In December 2019, the Gambia instituted proceedings at the International Court of Justice against Myanmar, alleging genocide by Myanmar’s government against the Rohingya people. 

In January 2020, the ICJ imposed emergency provisional measures on Myanmar, ordering it to protect the Rohingya minority from genocidal violence, as well as to preserve evidence of past crimes. In full, these provisional measures require the Myanmar government to “prevent genocidal acts, ensure military and police forces do not commit genocide, preserve evidence of genocidal acts and report back on its compliance regularly”. 

The court also unanimously declared that there was evidence of breaches of the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Genocide Convention), and stated that the Rohingya population were “extremely vulnerable” to attacks by the military. 

WHY INVOLVE FACEBOOK?

It may appear strange to involve a social media company in an ICJ case regarding genocide. However, the data possessed by Facebook could provide evidence of intent which is integral to the Gambia’s case. In order to prove genocide by Myanmar’s government before the Court, the Gambia must establish evidence of genocidal intent. It must prove that those overseeing the atrocities in Myanmar had the specific intent to destroy the Rohingya group ‘in whole or in part’.

In 2018, UN human rights investigators released a fact-finding report which found that serious human rights violations had been occurring in the country, and that these  violations had been encouraged through hate speech via social media platforms which “enabled the spread of…hateful and divisive rhetoric” against the Rohingya.  The report stated that Facebook played a key role in spreading such hate speech.

The Gambia’s submission highlights Facebook’s own previous decisions in banning Myamnar’s Commander-in-Chief, Min Aung Hlaing and  other military officials and groups in 2018.This occurred around the same time as the release of the UN report 

The submission itself  calls on Facebook to release “all documents and communications produced, drafted, posted or published” on the Facebook pages and accounts of specific Myanmar military and police officials or groups, and other relevant pages.

Facebook has confirmed that it is aware of the request and will evaluate it in accordance with the applicable laws.

Tanya is a Law student heading into the final year of her degree at the University of Manchester. She is interested in bringing attention to human rights issues arising from her Pro-Bono work at University (volunteering at the Legal Advice Centre and taking part in volunteering projects). Her main goal is to become a Barrister practising in either Criminal or Family Law. 

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