'Shameful betrayal': amnesty strips Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi of highest honour

New Delhi: Amnesty International on Monday stripped Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi of its highest award, the Ambassador of Conscience Award, in light of her “shameful betrayal of the values she once stood for” and her failure to protect human rights in the Buddhist country and prevent the persecution of Rohingya Muslims. The award, presented to Suu Kyi in 2009 in recognition of her “peaceful and non-violent struggle for democracy and human rights”, was revoked because the organisation “cannot justify your continued status as a recipient because it was “profoundly dismayed that you [Suu Kyi] no longer represent a symbol of hope, courage, and the undying defence of human rights”. Suu Kyi was hailed as a freedom fighter for her efforts to stand up against Myanmar’s military junta. She was put under house arrest for more than 15 years. The award was revoked exactly eight years after Suu Kyi’s house arrest ended. She was also awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. In a letter to Suu Kyi, Amnesty International’s general secretary Kumi Naidoo said her “failure to speak out for the Rohingya is one reason why we can no longer justify her status as an Ambassador of Conscience”. Suu Kyi became the de-facto leader of Myanmar’s civilian-led government in April 2016. Though the civilian government does not have control over the military, Amnesty said Suu Kyi and her office have shielded the security forces from accountability by “dismissing, downplaying or denying allegations of human rights violations and by obstructing international investigations into abuses”. Her administration has been “actively involved in the commission or perpetuation of multiple human rights violations”, Amnesty said. “Amnesty International has repeatedly criticized the failure of Aung San Suu Kyi and her government to speak out about military atrocities against the Rohingya population in Rakhine State, who have lived for years under a system of segregation and discrimination amounting to apartheid. During the campaign of violence unleashed against the Rohingya last year the Myanmar security forces killed thousands, raped women and girls, detained and tortured men and boys, and burned hundreds of homes and villages to the ground. More than 720,000 Rohingya fled to Bangladesh. A UN report has called for senior military officials to be investigated and prosecuted for the crime of genocide,” the statement reads. Amnesty also accused Suu Kyi’s administration of actively stirring up hostility against the Rohingya, labelling them as “terrorists”, accusing them of burning their own homes and decrying “faking rape”. “Her denial of the gravity and scale of the atrocities means there is little prospect of the situation improving for the hundreds of thousands of Rohingya living in limbo in Bangladesh or for the hundreds of thousands of Rohingya who remain in Rakhine State. Without acknowledgement of the horrific crimes against the community, it is hard to see how the government can take steps to protect them from future atrocities,” Naidoo said. Failure to use moral authority Apart from the persecution of Rohingya Muslims, Amnesty International also highlighted the situation in Kachin and northern Shan States, where Suu Kyi has “failed to use her influence and moral authority to condemn military abuses, to push for accountability for war crimes or to speak out for ethnic minority civilians who bear the brunt of the conflicts”. Her civilian-led administration has imposed “harsh restrictions on humanitarian access, exacerbating the suffering of more than 100,000 people displaced by the fighting”, the organisation said.

Her denial of the gravity and scale of the atrocities means there is little prospect of the situation improving for the hundreds of thousands of Rohingya living in limbo.

The civilian government has “considerable authority” to enact reforms to better protect human rights, especially those relating to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly, Amnesty said. But in the two years since Suu Kyi’s administration assumed power, “human rights defenders, peaceful activists and journalists have been arrested and imprisoned while others face threats, harassment and intimidation for their work”, it said. Suu Kyi’s administration was also criticised for failing to repeal repressive laws – including some of the same laws which were used to detain her and others campaigning for democracy and human rights. “Instead, she has actively defended the use of such laws, in particular the decision to prosecute and imprison two Reuters journalists for their work documenting a Myanmar military massacre,” Amnesty said. Source: The Wire