UN urges Myanmar to implement court order 'immediately'

The UN Human Rights Office on Friday called on Myanmar to implement the International Court of Justice (ICJ) order to protect the persecuted Rohingya Muslim minority from genocide.

"The UN Human Rights Office calls on Myanmar to immediately and unconditionally implement them in full, consistently with its obligations under the Charter and the Court's Statute," Spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Liz Throssell said in a statement, referring to Thursday's ruling.

"As the Secretary-General noted yesterday, these provisional measures indicated by the Court are binding under international law," she added.

The predominantly Muslim African nation of Gambia brought the ICJ case against Myanmar after more than 700,000 Rohingya fled across the border into Bangladesh, recounting harrowing tales of rape, arson and mass killings by security forces.

Gambia brought the case with support from the 57-nation OIC.

Decisions by the ICJ, which was set up after World War II to settle disputes between states, are binding, but the court has no means to enforce rulings.

Myanmar has maintained its military campaign, which it claims was waged to tackle an extremist threat in Rakhine state. The country's de facto leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, defended her country against the claims at the ICJ last month.