Burmese State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi will be heading to The Hague with a team of lawyers to defend Myanmar from the accusation of genocide against the Rohingya at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the Financial Times (FT) reported.

According to a press release by Suu Kyi's office, the move is in response to an application which was filed by the West African country of Gambia on Nov. 11, on behalf of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), at the ICJ.

Aljazeera highlighted that the case marks the first international legal attempt regarding the crisis, and is also a rare instance of one country, that is not a direct party to the matter, suing another country.

What does the case allege?

Aljazeera further reported that the case by Gambia alleges the following:

"...killing, causing serious bodily and mental harm, inflicting conditions that are calculated to bring about physical destruction, imposing measures to prevent births, and forcible transfers, are genocidal in character because they are intended to destroy the Rohingya group in whole or in part."

Gambian Minister of Justice Abubacarr Marie Tambadou stated that the country was taking this action to "seek justice and accountability for the genocide being committed by Myanmar against the Rohingya, and to uphold and strengthen the global norm against genocide that is binding upon all states."

Both Myanmar and Gambia are signatories to the 1948 Genocide Convention, which prohibits states from committing genocide, as well as compels all signatories to prevent and punish the crime of genocide.

Why is Suu Kyi going to down the ICJ personally?

A spokesperson for Suu Kyi's party, the National League for Demcracy (NLD), stated that this was due to the allegations accusing her of failing to speak up against human rights violations, The Guardian reported.

As such, "She has decided to face the lawsuit by herself."

Separately, a spokesperson for Myanmar's military, Brigadier General Zaw Min Tun, told Reuters that the decision to send Suu Kyi down was made after the military discussed the case with the government.

He added,"We, the military, will fully cooperate with the government and we will follow the instruction of the government."

Might not be such a good idea

However, Richard Rogers, a partner in Global Diligence, a London law firm, was quoted by FT as stating that such a move was unusual and carried significant risk.

He added that such a move could damage Myanmar if it was seen as "inappropriately attempting to lobby the court" and convey the impression that Suu Kyi herself is defending the allegations of genocide.

How have the Rohingya reacted?

Aljazeera reported that Rohingya activists have supported the announcement of the ICJ case, and called it a "historic" moment.

Nay San Lwin, the campaign coordinator of the Free Rohingya coalition, stated that the case could mark the first step to returning rights that have been stripped from the Rohingya.

"We have been driven out of our land, we want to live back in our homeland in Arakan or Rakhine state with human dignity, full citizenship and equal rights as other people [have] across Myanmar.

We demand compensation, we need protection to prevent further attacks on us. All these can be gained through the ICJ and [it] must take this case to the UN Security Council and get a referral for the International Criminal Court (ICC) so all perpetrators will be punished."

What is the current status of the Rohingya?

According to the BBC, there are currently about a million people of the Rohingya ethnic group languishing within the refugees camps of Bangladesh.

There are also still about 400,000 Rohingya who remain within the state of Rakhine, and are denied citizenship, free movement, and access to healthcare and education.

In 2017, a security crackdown in Rakhine drove over 700,000 Rohingyas into Bangladesh.

Subsequently, UN inspectors stated in Sep. 2018, that the top officers of Myanmar's military should stand trial for genocide over the crackdown.

Additionally, apart from the filing of Gambia's court case on Nov. 11, the ICC also approved a full probe into the 2017 crackdown.

Myanmar has since rejected the probe on the grounds that it violates international law.

What are the ICJ and ICC?

The ICJ was established in 1945 by the UN to settle disputes between States in accordance with international law.

As for the ICC, also based in the Hague, it was established in 2002 to investigate crimes such as genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and the crime of aggression.

Left photo by Allison Joyce/Getty Images, right photo from Myanmar State Counsellor Office Facebook