Giving Compass' Take:

· According to Al Jazeera Media Network, the International Court of Justice has ordered Myanmar to take extensive measures in order to prevent further genocide of the Rohingya.

· How can philanthropy provide support for the Muslim Rohingya population?

· Learn more about this topic and genocide in Myanmar.

The majority of the approximately one million Muslim-minority Rohingya in Myanmar lived in Rakhine state. Thousands have since fled under Myanmar's campaign of violence against them [File: Nyunt Win/EPA]

The Hague-based International Court of Justice has ordered Myanmar to take emergency measures to prevent genocide of the Rohingya.

In a unanimously-ruled order issued by a panel of 17 judges, and read by presiding Judge Abdulaqawi Ahmed Yusuf, the court upheld the provisions of the 1948 Genocide Convention - saying Myanmar had "caused irreparable damage to the rights of the Rohingya".

According to the Statute of the ICJ, the court has the power to order provisional measures when "irreparable prejudice could be caused to rights which are the subject of judicial proceedings". The court found that the condition of urgency had been met in this case.

In November the Gambia filed a suit against Myanmar alleging it was committing "an ongoing genocide against its minority Muslim Rohingya population" and violating the 1948 Genocide Convention.

Provisional measures are steps to take aimed at preventing further harm and comes as the first step in the legal case.

Judge Yusuf took care to emphasise the ordering of provisional measures did not "prejudge" the case. As Mike Becker, adjunct lecturer at Trinity College in Dublin and a former legal officer at the ICJ, emphasises: "This is a preliminary decision that is without prejudice to the merits of the case."

Read the full article about protecting Rohingya by Mia Swart at Al Jazeera Media Network.