54 Hate Speech Ignited: Understanding Hate Speech in Myanmar UN Special Rapporteurs have been threatened, attacked, and barred from entering Myanmar. In 2013, for example, former Special Rapporteur for the human rights situation in Myanmar Tomás Ojea Quintana attempted to visit Meiktila following the riots there.274 Protestors surrounded his convoy, punching his vehicle’s doors and windows.275 At a public rally in 2015, U Wirathu called the Special Rapporteur Yanghee Lee a “bitch” and a “whore” and threatened her with violence.276 Myanmar authorities have denied her entry into the country since 2017.277 They have similarly refused to cooper- ate with the FFM and blocked its investigators from entering Myanmar.278 This level of rejection of the international community resembles the military era policies of non-engagement, and the anti-international attitudes and withdrawal from international human rights institutions has been a disturbing trend in recent years. Domestic Rejection of “Biased” International Accountability Efforts In a significant development towards international accountability, The Gambia filed an application before the ICJ on November 11, 2019 to institute proceedings and request provisional measures against Myanmar for the attacks on Rohingya communities.279 The application is concerned with the “acts adopted, taken and condoned by the Government of Myanmar against members of the Rohingya group, a distinct ethnic, racial and religious group that resides primarily in Myanmar’s Rakhine State” in manifest violation of the Genocide Convention.280 Myanmar signed the Genocide Convention in 1949 and ratified it in 1956.281 Three days later, on November 14, the Pre-Trial Chamber III of the ICC issued a decision au- thorizing the Prosecutor’s request to start investigating the “Situation in Bangladesh/Myanmar” in the period from June 1, 2010 to the present.282 In the same week, on November 13, a Rohingya advocacy group and Argentinian civil soci- ety groups filed a criminal case in Argentina against top Myanmar officials for perpetrating and covering up the genocide committed against the Rohingya community.283 The case is proceeding 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 “Burma ‘Failed to Protect’ UN Rights Envoy,” BBC News, August 21, 2013, https://www.bbc.com/news/worldasia-23787470. Ibid. Maddie Smith, “Myanmar’s Extremist Monk Doesn’t Regret Calling UN Envoy a ‘Whore,’” Vice, January 22, 2015, https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/3kegwv/myanmars-extremist-monk-doesnt-regret-calling-un-envoy-awhore; Link to video footage (January 18, 2015) (accessed March 2, 2020): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=comAfSalvEY. Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, “Myanmar Refuses Access to UN Special Rapporteur,” December 20, 2017, https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=22553. “Myanmar Refuses Visas to UN Team Investigating Abuse of Rohingya Muslims,” Reuters, January 30, 2017, https:// www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jun/30/myanmar-refuses-visas-un-abuse-rohingya-muslims. “Application Instituting Proceedings and Requesting Provisional Measures,” Republic of The Gambia v. Republic of the Union of Myanmar (November 11, 2019),https://www.icj-cij.org/files/case-related/178/178-20191111-APP01-00-EN.pdf. Ibid. United Nations General Assembly, Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (1951), https://treaties.un.org/Pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=IND&mtdsg_no=IV-1&chapter=4&clang=_en. “Pre-Trial III Decision,” Situation in the People’s Republic of Bangladesh/Republic of the Union of Myanmar (November 14, 2019), ICC 09/19, https://www.icc-cpi.int/CourtRecords/CR2019_06955.PDF. “Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi Faces First Legal Action over Rohingya Crisis,” Agence France-Press, November 14, 2019, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/nov/14/myanmars-aung-san-suu-kyi-faces-first-legal-actionover-rohingya-crisis.