Bangladesh has formally handed over its response to the request made by the International Criminal Court (ICC) asking for ‘written observations, either publicly or confidentially’ on the Rohingya issue.
Ambassador to Netherlands Sheikh Mohammad Belal handed over the response to ICC Registrar Peter Lewis on Monday.
A foreign ministry official said, Dhaka has submitted its views about the court’s exercise of jurisdiction over the alleged deportation of people from Rakhine.
It did not submit any facts, but if the court asks, Dhaka is ready to provide all the necessary documents, said the official, who asked not to be named. “We made a confidential submission considering the sensitivity in mind.”
On May 7, the pre-trial chamber of the ICC invited Bangladesh to submit written observations of the Rohingya situation and Dhaka’s view about the court’s exercise of jurisdiction over the alleged deportation of people from Rakhine.
In December last year, Ambassador Belal, at a New York assembly of states belonging to the Rome Statute, said: “Bangladesh had done, despite the odds, what is just and right. We urge you to do your part for the sake of humanity.”
The ICC is based in The Hague, the capital of the Netherlands.
Based on the documents available with the ICC, there will be a closed-door hearing on Jun 20 at the pre-trial chamber of the court, attended only Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda.
On Apr 9, Bensouda sought a decision from the court “on the question whether the court may exercise jurisdiction under article 12(2)(a) over the alleged deportation of the Rohingya people from Myanmar to Bangladesh”.
She made the move as the UN has been calling for criminal accountability in Myanmar for months.
UN Special Advisor on the Prevention of Genocide Adama Dieng said in Dhaka: “International crimes have been committed in Myanmar. Rohingya Muslims have been killed, raped, tortured, burnt alive and humiliated, solely because of who they are."
Bangladesh is now home to over 1.1 million Rohingyas, who fled their homes as they faced persecution to the point of genocide perpetrated by the Myanmar military junta.
After the Aug 25 last year, Myanmar army crackdown in Rakhine, which included rape as a method to intimidate and humiliate, about 700,000 people crossed the border in to Bangladesh for safety.
In the camps built to accommodate the fleeing Rohingyas, there are currently over 30,000 pregnant women, about 36,000 orphans and about 7,800 children who have lost both their parents while trying to flee the carnage unleashed by the indiscriminate army operation.

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