BANGKOK — She could have stayed home.

Nobody is forcing Daw Aung San Suu Kyi — she of the Nobel Peace Prize and fragrant flowers in her hair — to stride into the International Court of Justice on Tuesday at The Hague, where she will lead Myanmar’s defense against accusations of genocide.

After all, Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi spent decades battling the same military generals accused of perpetrating mass atrocities against Myanmar’s minority Rohingya Muslims. Just a few years ago, the onetime democracy activist, who serves as Myanmar’s foreign minister and de facto civilian leader, visited the halls of power in Western Europe to preach the virtues of nonviolent resistance against a military dictatorship.

This time, her mission is very different. From Tuesday to Thursday, Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi will represent Myanmar in public hearings at the International Court of Justice, where the country is being accused of trying to “destroy the Rohingya as a group, in whole or in part, by the use of mass murder, rape and other forms of sexual violence, as well as the systematic destruction by fire of their villages, often with inhabitants locked inside burning houses.”

The three days of public hearings at The Hague, which opened on Tuesday, will not address the merits of the case, which was brought by Gambia on behalf of the 57-nation Organization of Islamic Cooperation.