How Art Can Deliver Justice For Refugees

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Rohingya artist Enayet Khan uses painting to process and record violence he witnessed while fleeing Myanmar in 2017. Legal Action Worldwide’s Antonia Mulvey says artwork was collected for a case at the International Court of Justice, where drawings helped communicate testimony from people facing barriers to written statements. Art may support documentation and accountability, but the source does not establish that Khan’s paintings were admitted as evidence or determined any legal outcome.

Rohingya artist Enayet Khan has used paintings and drawings to record violence he witnessed while fleeing Myanmar in 2017, while legal advocates have collected artwork to help document survivor testimony in a case before the International Court of Justice (ICJ). The account, reported by Hyperallergic, describes art as a possible aid to both personal expression and efforts to establish a record of alleged atrocities; it does not say Khan’s paintings were admitted as evidence or produced a court finding.

Khan told Hyperallergic that he escaped Myanmar with nine family members after soldiers’ attacks and fires forced them to move between villages. Three relatives were injured during the flight, and the group eventually crossed into Bangladesh. “I lost everything,” Khan said, describing the loss of his home, documents, property and sense of security.

He settled in Cox’s Bazar, where the report says nearly one million Rohingya refugees live. Khan began painting scenes of burning homes, fleeing families and executions, and later established the Rohingya Art Club to train other refugees in visual storytelling. The report presents the work as a way to process experiences and preserve accounts of what people saw.

Antonia Mulvey, executive director of Legal Action Worldwide and a former UN investigator, said she collected artwork for a case before the ICJ alleging genocide against Rohingya communities. She told Hyperallergic that drawings can help convey testimony where literacy barriers make conventional written statements difficult, particularly for women and children. The report does not detail which artworks were submitted, how the court assessed them or whether they were formally accepted as evidence.

How Images Can Support Testimony

Artwork can give investigators and legal teams another way to preserve people’s accounts when spoken or written testimony is difficult to record. In the situation Mulvey described, drawings helped communicate experiences among Rohingya survivors facing high rates of illiteracy. That can matter when legal processes depend on building a detailed record of events, but art does not independently establish that a crime occurred or who committed it.

The report also highlights a distinction between personal expression and legal proof. For Khan and other artists, making images can help represent traumatic experiences and keep them visible. For lawyers, artwork may provide context or corroborate survivor accounts. Its evidentiary weight depends on how it was created, what it depicts, its connection to a witness, and how legal bodies evaluate it—details not provided in this account.

The broader stakes include both displacement and accountability. The report cites a global total of 117.8 million forcibly displaced people, without specifying the date attached to that figure. It also says new EU investigations and prosecutions of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes rose 44% from 2016 to 2021. Those figures show the scale of displacement and legal activity described by the source, but they do not establish that art has caused an increase in prosecutions.

From Myanmar to Cox’s Bazar

The report places Khan’s work within the history of Rohingya persecution. It says Myanmar’s 1982 citizenship law stripped Rohingya people of citizenship, leaving them among the world’s largest stateless populations. In 2017, Khan and many others fled to Bangladesh amid military violence that legal advocates have described as genocide and crimes against humanity. The claims are part of continuing legal accountability efforts; this report does not provide a court judgment resolving them.

After reaching Cox’s Bazar, Khan turned to drawing and painting and organized the Rohingya Art Club. His work depicts events he says he witnessed, including attacks and people escaping. Separately, Mulvey’s collection of artwork for an ICJ case illustrates how legal advocates may use visual accounts alongside other material. The report describes the collection as part of the case’s evidence, but does not identify the specific procedural status or treatment of individual works.

“Drawings became a vital way to convey their testimonies.”

— Antonia Mulvey, executive director of Legal Action Worldwide, as reported by Hyperallergic

What the Court Record Shows

The report does not specify which artworks were collected, whether they were formally submitted or admitted in court, or how judges assessed them. It also does not establish that Khan’s own paintings were part of the ICJ case. The legal status and outcome of the case are not detailed in the supplied account.

More broadly, an image’s role in accountability depends on its provenance, the artist’s account of what it depicts and corroborating material. The report describes art as a means of conveying or supporting testimony, not as a substitute for investigation or a guarantee of prosecution. The timing and method for any further legal proceedings are also not given.

Further Evidence and Legal Steps

The next developments depend on the legal proceedings involving allegations against Myanmar’s military and on how investigators and courts handle material gathered from survivors. The supplied report does not give a hearing date, ruling or timetable for the ICJ case, so no specific next milestone can be confirmed.

For Khan and the Rohingya Art Club, the report documents ongoing artistic work and training, but does not announce a new project or expansion. Further reporting would be needed to establish whether the artwork is used in later proceedings, how it is authenticated, and whether legal bodies cite it alongside witness testimony and other evidence.

Key Questions

What role can refugee art play in legal cases?

As described by Legal Action Worldwide’s Antonia Mulvey, drawings can help convey survivor testimony when written statements are difficult to collect. Artwork may support or add context to other evidence, but its legal weight depends on the case and how it is evaluated.

Did Enayet Khan’s paintings become evidence at the ICJ?

The report does not say that Khan’s individual paintings were admitted as evidence. It says Mulvey collected artwork as part of the evidence in a case before the International Court of Justice.

What is the Rohingya Art Club?

It is a group Khan established in Cox’s Bazar to encourage visual storytelling and train other Rohingya refugees in art, according to the Hyperallergic report.

What happened to Khan during his escape from Myanmar?

Khan told Hyperallergic that he fled with nine family members in 2017, moving through villages as fires spread. Three relatives were injured, and the family eventually crossed into Bangladesh.

Has the ICJ case reached a decision?

The supplied report does not state the case’s outcome or provide a current procedural update. It describes allegations of genocide against Rohingya communities and the collection of artwork for the case.

Source: rss