"On December 9, the world marked the anniversary of the adoption of the 1948 UN Genocide Convention: a covenant signed in the wake of the Holocaust not only to punish genocide but to prevent it. And yet, the tatters of the shredded promise of "never again" were on display the very next day at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which from December 10 to 12 held its first hearings in the case against Myanmar for the genocide of the Rohingya. The case was brought by The Gambia, under a provision of the Genocide Convention that permits state parties to bring a case against any other party for violations, even if they themselves are not directly affected - a reflection of the extreme gravity of the crime. The hearings - in which The Gambia requested "provisional measures" to mitigate further deterioration of the Rohingya's situation while the wheels of justice grind slowly forward - were just the preliminary stage of a long process which will take several more years to determine whether Myanmar bears state responsibility for genocide..."