Amnesty International strips Aung San Suu Kyi of highest honour

Suu Kyi who is the Myanmar’s incumbent State Counsellor, a position akin to a prime minister, was last month stripped of her honorary Canadian citizenship over her failure to speak up for the Rohingyas.

(FILES) This file photo taken on July 19, 2018 shows Myanmar State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi attending ceremony for her late father during the 71th anniversary of Martyrs' Day in Yangon. - Amnesty International on November 13 stripped Aung San Suu Kyi of its highest honour over the de facto Myanmar leader's "indifference" to the atrocities committed by the military against Rohingya Muslims. (Photo by YE AUNG THU / AFP)

New Delhi: Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi was on Monday stripped of Amnesty’s highest honour over ‘indifference’ to the atrocities committed by the country’s military against Rohingya Muslims.  Amnesty International, the global human rights organisation said it was withdrawing the Ambassador of Conscience Award that it conferred Suu Kyi with in the year 2009 while she was still under house arrest. In a press note, the organisation wrote that on November 11, its Secretary General Kumi Naidoo wrote to Aung San Suu Kyi to inform her about the withdrawal. She expressed her disappointment over Suu Kyi not using her political and moral authority to safeguard human rights, justice or equality in Myanmar. She cited Suu Kyi’s apparent indifference to atrocities committed by the Myanmar military and increasing intolerance of freedom of expression. "Today, we are profoundly dismayed that you no longer represent a symbol of hope, courage, and the undying defence of human rights," Naidoo said in a letter to Suu Kyi released by the group. The group said it informed Suu Kyi of the decision on Sunday. She has so far issued no public response. Suu Kyi who is the Myanmar’s incumbent State Counsellor, a position akin to a prime minister, was last month stripped of her honorary Canadian citizenship over her failure to speak up for the Rohingyas. She has also lost numerous smaller awards from individual universities and local and regional governments. Suu Kyi was once hailed globally as she rose in the form of an iconic freedom fighter, who stood up to her country's feared military dictatorship while spending 15 years under house arrest. She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991. Aung Saan Suu Kyi and her party Natioanl League for Democracy rose to power in 2015 in a sweeping victory that ended decades of military rule in the country. However, her political tenure has been marred by a failure to speak up for Rohingya Muslims. The Rohingyas were driven out of the country in large numbers by the Myanmar army in what the United Nations has called ethnic cleansing campaign.