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Bangladesh has provided £ 500,000 in a fundraising campaign launched at an ongoing meeting of foreign ministers from the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), an organization of 57 Muslim countries, to assist in the Gambia’s legal battle. against Myanmar for the Rohingya genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
Permanent Representative of Bangladesh to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and Ambassador of Bangladesh in Saudi Arabia. “We have already provided funds from the OIC to assist The Gambia in its legal battle,” said Mohammad Javed Patwari.
Patwari, who heads the Dhaka delegation to the OIC Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) in Niger, told BSS that the OIC General Secretariat has opened a special account at the ICJ to assist in the fight against Gambia. . And the West African country has also indicated an urgent need for funding.
Presenting the latest update on the Rohingya CFM case, The Gambian Justice Minister Dauda A. Jalo said: “I urge OIC member states to make urgent, voluntary and meaningful contributions to this legal case. The crisis of the Rohingya is the main topic of discussion at CFM.
He said the Gambia needed about $ 5 million to bring the case, especially to pay the lawyers. A well-known US-based law firm has already been hired to defend the case.
However, Jalo said: “Unfortunately, they have not yet received significant funding for the legal services that the legal entity has been providing since September 2019.” Earlier this month, the law firm received £ 300,000, less than 10 per cent of what it owed.
The Gambian minister said the case was aimed at finding a final and lasting solution to the Rohingya crisis. He warned that the OCI should take all possible measures regarding the Rohingya issue at the ICJ in coordination with his country in the interest of the case.
He warned that any uncoordinated action by the OIC could damage the case and further complicate the matter.
Officials from the OIC Secretariat said that in addition to Dhaka, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Nigeria, among the 57 OIC members, they have so far provided financial support to The Gambia in the ICJ case.
Foreign Minister Dr. at the 47th session of the two-day OIC CFM, which began on Friday. AK Abdul Momen was supposed to lead the Bangladesh delegation. But at the last minute, Kovid-19 was identified on his body, forcing him to cancel his scheduled visit to Niger.
Bangladesh has become the largest settlement for the community forcibly displaced due to the Rohingya crisis.
Myanmar, a predominantly Buddhist East Asian country, launched a brutal military operation on August 25, 2016, forcing more than 1.1 million Rohingya from Rakhine State to flee their homeland, most of them taking refuge in the Cox’s Bazar district, bordering Bangladesh.
The Gambia filed the lawsuit against Myanmar in November last year with the help of the OIC, Canada and the Netherlands. The ICJ held its first hearing on December 10 and 12.
On January 23, the ICJ made a historic unanimous decision ordering a temporary measure to prevent the aftermath of the genocide against the Rohingya in Myanmar.
Earlier this week, the Bangladeshi Foreign Minister said. AK Abdul Momen told BSS in Dhaka that the CMF would again put pressure on Myanmar from the ‘Accountability and Judicial Front’ to repatriate its citizens from Bangladesh.
“The OIC has taken the Rohingya issue seriously,” he said. All OIC members have strongly supported us on this issue at the United Nations.
