Aung San Suu Kyi stripped of prestigious peace award
Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi has been stripped of Amnesty International’s most prestigious human rights prize, the Ambassador of Conscience Award, which she was awarded whilst still in detention in 2009.
Amnesty is calling out the defacto Burmese leader and accusing her of perpetuating human rights abuses by not speaking out about violence against the country’s Rohingya Muslim minority.
Once hailed as a champion for democracy and peace in Myanmar, Suu Kyi has been now stripped of a series of international honors over her handling of the brutal crackdown and Rohingya exodus following outbreaks of violence in the Rhakine region in August 2017.
More than 700,000 of the stateless Rohingya fled across Myanmar’s western-most borders into Bangladesh after the Myanmar Army launched a ruthless crackdown in response to Rohingya insurgent attacks on the security forces.
Human rights organisations, NGOs and UN investigators have continually accused the Burmese military of unleashing a campaign of killings, rape and arson with “genocidal intent”.
Suu Kyi’s administration, for their part, have ignored or rejected the findings claiming that they’re ‘one-sided’. Her response has been that the military action was a legitimate counter-insurgency operation.
The international human rights group named Suu Kyi as its 2009 Ambassador of Conscience Award recipient when she was still under house arrest for her opposition to Myanmar’s oppressive military junta.
Amnesty International says she had failed to speak out over the atrocities and continues to “shield security forces from accountability” for the violence against the Rohingya.
“A shameful betrayal of the values she once stood for”
Amnesty International informed Suu Kyi on Sunday about the decision to revoke the prestigious award. So far the Myanmar leader has not responded publicly about the decision.
