discovery. search for a. documentary. you're watching d.w. news asia coming up 9 marcey leader rejects genocide charges at the hague on sun suchi says the accusations are incomplete and misleading when it comes to the military's crackdown on the hinge of muslims look at the reaction from human rights watch. and sticking with myanmar we take a closer look at a system of segregation that some compare to apartheid top and across wrong kind state. plus priests have kept track of them for centuries now this sacred

ice ridges of japan's lakes could be melting away into history. i'm melissa chan welcome to g.w. news asia think you for joining us it's day 2 of the international court of justice is hearings in the genocide case against myanmar and the country's leader on sun suchi has spoken she acknowledged the possibility that the military could have used just a portion of force and that it might not have taken into account civilian safety enough but also said that these actions do not fulfill the definition of genocide. mr president it cannot be ruled out that disproportionate force was used by members of the defense of this is in some cases in this is a god of international humanitarian law or that they did not distinguish clearly

enough between also fighters and civilians. the spirit and mind this complex situation and the challenge to sovereignty and security in our country when you're assessing the intent of those who attempted to do with the rebellion surely under the circumstances genocidal intent cannot be the own you had poth once celebrated world wide as a human rights defender on sunset she has seen a dramatic fall from grace and she received the nobel peace prize in 2012 in 2017 a military crackdown in iraq kind state forced more than 740000 range of muslims to flee myanmar into neighboring bangladesh the refugees shown here crossing into bangladesh 2 years ago described multiple atrocities against their communities including mass murder rape and the destruction of the hinge of villages the lawsuit filed at the international court of justice in the hague says the myanmar military

operation amounted to genocide the government denies the allegations saying it was carrying out a legitimate operation in response to attacks by revenge a terrorists we have phil robertson of human rights watch for more phil just to play devil's advocate here. and so sushi is leader but she has limited political power the military still holds a lot of control is there a situation where she's caught in a difficult situation and she's trying to push for political reforms and can't really criticize the military as much as she would personally like. well it's certainly true that the 2008 constitution limits or powers that was a constitution that was written by the military for the military and quite clearly gauged security issues completely the control of the military all in their hands and that the civilians like uncensored she cannot oversee them but the reality is that she is become the queen of the cover up when he's sitting here in

the hague arguing the case of the military even 8 of her own nobel peace prize colleagues other award he said that she should be held criminally accountable for the crimes against eroding so you've covered southeast asia for about 2 decades i don't know you might have even met on sun suchi does her change surprise you at all . it surprises me a great deal. you know i met her 2 times in the 1993 in the period when she was released from house arrest but the reality is that the person i talked to then the person i'm seeing in the hague seem to be 2 entirely different people. you know the sad thing is that she appears to be using this situation of their own as a vote gathering strategy to support her party in the 2020 election she's playing the nationalist card here there have been rallies all

over me on maher you know saying they support her and accuse the international community of basically making things up against myanmar the reality is that these crimes against the running i have been an incredibly well documented by the the un and by others and the as we saw in there in her testimony that even in the hague later earlier today she doesn't have any concrete arguments against. myanmar has been accused of not going to the hague what is the outcome that the gandhi is hoping what can you what actually happened to myanmar. well what the gon be a has requested is temporary measures. that means that the international court of justice could order within weeks or months number of things from the myanmar government to stop violence against the rohingya to ensure that more damage is not cost this could be requiring myanmar to provide access to some of

these shut down locked away areas of northern or time state where they prevented international humanitarian from going it could be allowing. persons like us and others to go into these areas to monitor the situation could be ending the restrictions on freedom of movement that have prevented the remaining 600000 rohingya who are still in rakhine state to not even leave their village to be unable to go to the hospital or or for children to get education or or for farmers or fisherman to pursue their livelihoods phil robertson thank you in addition to the hinge as the focus of the top court at the un hundreds of thousands of other muslim minorities are held in myanmar in camps in iraq and state most with little freedom of movement and as the international says the institutionalized

segregation is so severe that it constitutes a form of apartheid our next report looks at a divided community where some hope to forgive and forget. destroyed mosque in downtown. a bleak reminder of a community torn apart by myanma sick tarion strife. muslims and buddhists once lived side by side but that ended with a wave of unrest through a con state in 2012 when neighbor turned on neda and muslims were forced from their homes. for the past 7 years they've lived here under armed guard in this muddy camp denied proper housing jobs and medical care muslims are still permitted to visit the town but only for 2 hours and under police escort . this camp resident who wishes to remain anonymous

says he said about the loss of his old life. it upsets me to look at where we used to live he says i never imagined this would happen. he and most others in the camp a common muslims unlike the ranger there are recognized minority but that hasn't saved them from segregation before the attacks many work the fishing boats or transported cargo from the beach now those jobs and others in town are exclusively carried out by buddhists. for muslim homes and mosques have been stripped of all religious symbols. but the buddhist woman who lives here says she hasn't forgotten her all. the money i have in many muslim friends. when they come into town. many of the people here

don't even give them a glass of water. but i do even my. local politician cure tun says he's town is ready to welcome the muslims back but only with the government's go ahead but. it's not right for them to live in the camp like it's. not in my opinion this shouldn't happen. despite myanmar's religious tensions some still hope that this divide the community can one day be rebuilt. winter has always been a special season for people living along the japanese alps which bisects the country's main island priests for centuries have kept records of how often the local lake froze when rifts like this appeared in the ice it was seen as

a good omen but since the 1960 s. that has rarely happened and many worry it's because of global warming. all is calm on the surface but for all to say momo say the solitude and make is cause for anxiety a vibrant rush of life again away due to climate change or much as i recall when i was little as soon as we finished school we come to lake and go fishing boat . that's open to the children it was completely normal for us to come here every day it was our playing field the water was clean and there are lots of fish then protest. things like this from the early 20th century show the lake and its heyday a hot spot for winter sports. ice fishing. and

even military drills. but it is also a domain of the divine when ridges like this appear they're known as only what tare when giant sheets of ice crack and buckle into miniature mountain ranges legend has it their footsteps of the gods. for nearly 600 years shinto priests have noted the date the ridges appear records that scientists say so a rapid rise in the temperatures they were frugal if you look at old records the 1600s was a very cold century and during this time there was only one year when the lake didn't freeze over and create the arse ridge or not through that was once in 100 years or so for 99 years there was the only what tare every year and this was

considered natural. in 65 onwards maybe it's effect of global warming the ice ridges have practically disappeared and the lake almost never freezes over your sort of snow. still hope springs eternal at the 2 naga shrine priests make offerings of rice sucking salt and water and pray for the only what tare to return this year. you know if you move on without the wrong on all the wrong or. a phenomenon now so rare it could vanish into a distant memory. that's it for now head over to our website d.w. dot com forward slash asia to view this show online and for other stories from the region we leave you with images from the range of crisis beginning with myanmar's crackdown in 2017 thank you for watching see you next time and good bye.

vides us to see people in particular. as the kids. grow up. on you tube. you know that 77 percent. are younger than 30 baht. that's me and me and you. do know what

it's time no voice is part. of the 77 percent to talk about the issue. this is where you. are 77 percent this weekend on d w. being good at all we will force you german legislators are readying new laws telling fashion companies to clean up their asian supply chains and respect workers rights minimum wages and climate protection for our strangulation. saudi aramco shares make their stock market did you record breaking initial public offering to give the company a valuation of $1.00 trillion dollars come from prince mohammed bin saw months of

1st stepping stone overall saudi arabia's oil reliant because. this is business. as welcome. beard cory's in india or sweatshops in bangladesh everywhere across asia workers' rights environmental protection and children's health is being disregarded by global companies that's a source their products in the region the german government asked $3000.00 textile retailers and producers to voluntarily clean up their supply chains suggested a self police licensing option with an official certification that companies can apply for the scheme was called green button and only less than $100.00 companies were willing to sign up for it they would have to fulfill a total of $46.00 criteria to do with environmental protection and workers was applying alongside the entire supply chain certified companies would have to prove that their products made by child labor.