\n Hope is a fragile but persistent force in Bangladesh's sprawling Rohingya camps of Cox's Bazar, where more than a million refugees forced to flee Myanmar live in squalid conditions.\n<\/p>\n
\n In rows of bamboo shelters and muddy lanes, refugees who escaped Myanmar nearly a decade ago await developments more than 8,000 kilometres (5,000 miles) away at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, where a genocide case against Myanmar opens on Monday.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"We want justice and peace,\" said Janifa Begum, 37, a mother of two. \"Our women lost their dignity when the military junta launched the eviction. They burned villages, killed men, and women became victims of widespread violence.\"\n<\/p>\n
\n The top UN court on Monday will hear a case brought by The Gambia, which accuses Myanmar of breaching the 1948 Genocide Convention during a brutal crackdown on the Rohingya in 2017.\n<\/p>\n
\n Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims fled the bloodshed and crossed the border into Bangladesh. Myanmar's ruling junta denies the allegations.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"My house was gutted,\" Begum told AFP. \"I fled with my husband and two brothers-in-law with nothing -- no food, no belongings. I later heard that they had grabbed my land.\"\n<\/p>\n
\n - 'Soaked in blood' -\n<\/p>\n
\n For many in the camps, the hearings are a rare acknowledgement of long ignored suffering.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"I hope the ICJ will bring some solace to the deep wounds we are still carrying,\" said Mohammad Sayed Ullah, 33, a former teacher and now a member of the United Council of Rohingya, a refugee organisation.\n<\/p>\n
\n While the ICJ has no way to enforce any judgment it might make, Ullah spoke quietly but firmly about accountability, hoping the UN case may, someday, bring them real change.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"The perpetrators must be held accountable and punished,\" he said. \"The sooner and fairer the trial is, the better the outcome will be... then the repatriation process may begin.\"\n<\/p>\n
\n Ullah fled Myanmar in 2017 after what he describes as a brutal military crackdown.\n<\/p>\n
\n It took him more than two weeks to reach Bangladesh, trekking through jungles and swamps, a journey marked by fear and loss.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"There were four of us in the family, and my elderly mother suffered the most,\" he said. \"On our way to Bangladesh, we saw villages on fire. I saw my neighbouring village soaked in blood.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"Dozens of people took shelter in one place when the junta started firing. The soldiers laid siege to the area, butchered the men, and tortured the women,\" Ullah added.\n<\/p>\n
\n - 'To erase our existence' -\n<\/p>\n
\n Maung Thein Myint, a Rohingya human rights activist, said the ICJ case carries immense symbolic weight.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"My expectations from the ICJ hearings are rooted in lived suffering and long-denied truth,\" he said.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"I hope the court will clearly recognise that what was done to the Rohingya was genocide -- systematic, state-led, and intended to erase our existence.\"\n<\/p>\n
\n While acknowledging the court's limits, Myint believes a strong judgment could still make a difference.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"Such recognition can restore dignity to victims, strengthen global accountability, and keep alive our hope for justice, protection, and a safe, voluntary, and dignified return home.\"\n<\/p>\n
\n In Cox's Bazar, justice remains distant. But for the Rohingya, the ICJ is a rare hope that their voices may be heard.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"I want to see whether the suffering we endured is reflected during the hearing,\" said Begum, hoping for a better for her baby daughter and toddler son.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"I hope that one day we will return home and live there with dignity.\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Hope is a fragile but persistent force in Bangladesh's sprawling Rohingya camps of Cox's Bazar, where more than a million refugees forced to flee Myanmar live in squalid conditions. In rows of bamboo shelters and muddy lanes, refugees who escaped Myanmar nearly a decade ago await developments more than 8,000 kilometres (5,000 miles) away at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[553],"tags":[],"ji_location":[],"class_list":["post-154227","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-live-feed"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n