By Nicholas Kristof / The New York Times
It has been popular in conservative circles lately to denounce the International Criminal Court for issuing an arrest warrant for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, accusing him of war crimes in the Gaza Strip. But whatever you think of that arrest warrant, a new case underscores why the court is essential.
The chief prosecutor of the court Wednesday requested an arrest warrant for the acting president of Myanmar, Min Aung Hlaing, accusing him of crimes against humanity against that country’s Rohingya minority.
I covered the mistreatment of the Rohingya in repeated trips to Myanmar and Bangladesh, where many of the Rohingya fled. “Genocide” is a strong word, but it may be that the world will eventually recognize the 2017 systematic slaughter of the Rohingya as a genocide.
One Rohingya woman, Dilbar Begum, told me how soldiers came to her village and separated the men and boys from the women and girls. “Then they shot the men and boys,” she said, including her husband and 4-year-old son. The troops cut the throat of Dilbar’s baby and chopped her 10-year-old daughter, Noor, with a machete, then raped Dilbar beside the bodies of her children before setting fire to the hut. Dilbar escaped with Noor, who survived with grievous head wounds.
Another woman told me how troops had grabbed her baby from her arms and thrown him onto a bonfire. A 15-year-old girl, the only known survivor in her family, told me how soldiers had tried to burn her alive.
There wasn’t nearly enough outrage at Myanmar’s campaign of murder and rape, and the Rohingya survivors today aren’t getting nearly enough support. So thank goodness for the International Criminal Court for reminding other leaders that there may be consequences for mass murder.
I’m sympathetic to the court’s effort to hold Netanyahu accountable for what is happening in Gaza, and I hope it will prompt reflection in the United States about our own policies. But whatever one’s opinion about the jurisdiction or substance of that case, the latest move to bring justice to the Rohingya should underscore that in a world of ongoing savagery, the International Criminal Court remains a pillar of a rules-based international order. It is a force for civilization and humanity that deserves our backing.
Contact Nicholas Kristof at Facebook.com/Kristof, X.com/NickKristof or by mail at The New York Times, 620 Eighth Ave., New York, NY 10018.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times, c.2024.
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