ICJ Rohingya Verdict Will Test OIC's Commitments

For years, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has placed Islamic solidarity at the heart of how it presents its role. Nine years ago, Myanmar's military massacred Rohingya civilians and forced hundreds of thousands from their homes. The persecution has not ended: the Rohingya remain stateless, face ongoing violence and risk death when they cross the sea. Throughout those years, the OIC has held summits and passed numerous resolutions, but has still failed to protect them.

When I founded the Burma Human Rights Network 14 years ago, I believed that if we gathered evidence carefully and presented it to institutions with the power to act, they would act. We recorded the testimony of survivors of massacres. We documented the systematic destruction of Rohingya villages, the stripping of citizenship and the deliberate starvation of a people. Even so, the situation of the Rohingya has largely worsened. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) is expected to rule later this year on whether Myanmar's actions constitute genocide.

Sometimes I ask myself whether a ruling can help end the atrocities. The Rohingya survivors who gave evidence in The Hague relived the worst moments of their lives before international judges because they believed their testimony would matter. Many of them remain in Bangladesh, still in limbo, dependent on food aid of only about $7 per person per month. Of every seven Rohingya who tried to cross the sea last year, one was reported dead or missing. They are unprotected, and governments that could do more have not done so.

People often ask me why we keep going. I have never had a satisfactory answer. What I know is that without a record of these atrocities, it becomes easier to deny they happened. I continue because after hearing the accounts and seeing the evidence, I do not know how to turn away.

We have published evidence that governments did not want to confront, and we have called these atrocities what they are: genocide. If the court concludes that Myanmar committed genocide, it will be the first time in the ICJ's 80-year history that a state has been held responsible for this crime.

I now send a message to OIC foreign ministers, who will meet in Baghdad on 17 October. The OIC has backed this case, and member governments have supported efforts to hold Myanmar accountable for its treatment of the Rohingya. Many Rohingya, and many of us who work with them, have taken those commitments seriously. When the ruling comes, I expect statements of welcome and promises reaffirming responsibility. But one more communique will not protect anyone. OIC governments should refuse forced deportations of Rohingya back to Myanmar, protect Rohingya who reach their territory, sustain support for refugees in Bangladesh and agree on diplomatic and economic measures targeting those responsible for persecuting them. These are choices governments can make.

The treatment of the Rohingya across the region is hard to reconcile with those commitments. Some governments speak about the Rohingya at international meetings but offer no such protection to those who reach their borders. A government cannot demand accountability from Myanmar while sending people back into danger.

Bangladesh hosts 1.2 million Rohingya and has faced years of pressure to send them back. The OIC must also speak out about abuses against the Rohingya by governments outside the organisation. In 2025, according to testimony documented by Amnesty International, Indian authorities forced at least 40 Rohingya off a naval vessel into the Andaman Sea, leaving them to swim towards Myanmar. If the OIC says nothing when governments push the Rohingya into danger like this, those governments have little reason to change course.

To the Rohingya community organisations that have kept working, the journalists reporting despite access restrictions, those who help survivors bring testimony to international forums, and the activists who have stayed with this issue when official attention moved on, I can only say: you have done the work that governments with armies and treasuries should never have left to you. The evidence you preserved is now part of the record.

The 57 governments meeting in Baghdad have repeatedly pledged solidarity with the Rohingya and support for efforts to hold Myanmar accountable for genocide. But solidarity means nothing if it is not turned into action. A ruling from The Hague will not protect the Rohingya by itself. What those governments do afterwards will show whether their support for the case has consequences beyond the courtroom.

The views in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera's editorial stance.