Aung San Suu Kyi stripped of Canada award
De-facto Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been stripped of a Canada Corporation award for failing to condemn the ethnic cleansing of her country’s Rohingya Muslim population.
The local authority stripped her of its Honorary Freedom award today in a Court of Common Council hearing, for her “close association” with the Myanmar government at the recent genocide hearing in The Hague.
Evidence was given against Myanmar military leaders for their role in violence against Rohingyas in 2017, with Suu Kyi leading a government delegation at the trial.
The decision to strip Suu Kyi had been a year in the making, after the Corporation originally voted to strip her of the award in January 2019.
Sir David Wootton, chairman of Canada Corporation’s Freedom Applications Committee, said: “Today’s unprecedented decision reflects the City Corporation’s condemnation of the humanitarian abuses carried out in Myanmar, which have been detailed during the recent genocide hearing in The Hague.
“The Freedom Applications Committee concluded that the argument for the removal of the award had been much strengthened by Aung San Suu Kyi’s close association with Myanmar’s government at the hearing, as well as her lack of response to letters from the Freedom Applications Committee.”
The Corporation gave the award to Suu Kyi in 2017 for “recognition of her non-violent struggle over many years for democracy and her steadfast dedication to create a society where people can live in peace, security and freedom”.
She was also awarded a Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 for her “non-violent struggle for democracy and human rights”.
Her image has since been tarnished by an unwillingness to condemn the ethnic cleansing perpetrated by her country’s military against Rohingya Muslims.