British MPs urge International Criminal Court arrest warrant for Min Aung Hlaing

Eleven British members of parliament from across political party lines have signed the “Early Day Motion (EDM) 526,” which is a formal parliamentary proposal supporting the International Criminal Court (ICC) request for an arrest warrant for Min Aung Hlaing.

“What is done through the U.K. Parliament is important for us,” Tun Khin, the president of the Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK (BROUK), told DVB. “We are still waiting for the ICC to issue an arrest warrant.”

The EDM 526, titled “ICC arrest warrant for General Min Aung Hlaing,” was introduced by Shockat Adam, an independent MP for Leicester South, on Dec. 9, 2024, along with six other British MPs.

ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan requested an arrest warrant to be filed against Min Aung Hlaing on Nov. 27, 2024. The charges include crimes against humanity for his military’s “security clearance” operations in 2016-17 against the Rohingya.

The U.S. declared the 2017 Myanmar military operations in Rakhine State against the Rohingya, which led to over 700,000 to flee into Bangladesh, as genocide.

Myanmar is also the subject of a genocide case brought by the Gambia at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in 2019. Hearings ended in January, where Rohingya genocide survivors shared testimony directly with the ICJ. The Myanmar regime delegate sent to defend the military denied genocide was committed.

An Argentine court issued an arrest warrant for Min Aung Hlaing, along with 24 other senior Myanmar military and government officials, on Feb. 28, 2025.

The case was filed by BROUK on Nov. 13, 2019 under the legal principle of universal jurisdiction for their alleged involvement in genocide and crimes against humanity against the Rohingya community.

This allows national courts to prosecute individuals for the most serious international crimes, such as genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity, regardless of where the crime was committed or the nationality of the perpetrator and the victims.

Khin Thiri Nandar Soe, a spokesperson with the U.S.-based Alliance for Democracy in Myanmar, told DVB that if the ICC issues the long-awaited arrest warrant for Min Aung Hlaing, then ICC member states will have a responsibility – under the Rome Statute that established the ICC – to arrest him if he enters their territory.

The Myanmar Accountability Project (MAP), led by human rights expert Chris Gunness, and Rohingya genocide survivor Yasmin Ullah filed a criminal complaint against Min Aung Hlaing under universal jurisdiction at the Attorney General’s Office in Jakarta, Indonesia, on April 6.

James Shwe, a member of the advocacy groups Free Myanmar and the Los Angeles Myanmar Movement, told DVB that international justice efforts to hold Min Aung Hlaing accountable for crimes committed during his time as senior general of the Myanmar military from 2011-26 will progress rapidly now that he’s ascended to the presidency.

Min Aung Hlaing, 69, was voted president by a pro-military parliament on April 3, which ends his pursuit of Myanmar’s highest civilian office five years after he led the military coup on Feb. 1, 2021 that ousted the democratically elected National League for Democracy (NLD) government led by Aung San Suu Kyi.

Min Aung Hlaing was replaced as commander-in-chief by loyalist Ye Win Oo on March 30. The military drafted 2008 Constitution bars serving military leaders from holding the presidency concurrently.

The Chin Human Rights Organization (CHRO), along with MAP, opened legal proceedings against Min Aung Hlaing and other senior Myanmar military officials in Timor-Leste on Feb. 2.

This case is also under universal jurisdiction for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Chin State since the 2021 coup.

This follows an earlier effort by CHRO and MAP to file the same charges under universal jurisdiction in a court in Manila, Philippines, on Oct. 25, 2023. MAP has two other ongoing cases against Myanmar in the U.K. and Turkey.

The motion by British MPs adds to growing international efforts to pursue justice for the people of Myanmar and hold Min Aung Hlaing accountable for alleged crimes committed by the Myanmar military before and after the 2021 coup.