Amnesty International has withdrawn its highest honour, the Ambassador of Conscience award, from Aung San Suu Kyi, citing her 'apparent indifference' to atrocities committed against the Rohingya by Myanmar's military. The organisation described her actions as a 'shameful betrayal' of the values she once represented.
Aung San Suu Kyi, now Myanmar's civilian leader, received the award in 2009 while under house arrest for her role in championing peace and democracy. However, Kumi Naidoo, Amnesty International's secretary general, said in a letter that her title could no longer be justified, as she had failed to use her moral authority to speak out against injustice within Myanmar.
The decision follows a series of other accolades being withdrawn from Suu Kyi, including the US Holocaust Museum's Elie Wiesel award and Freedom of the City awards from Edinburgh, Oxford, Glasgow and Newcastle. More than 700,000 Rohingya remain in Bangladesh after fleeing a brutal military crackdown in 2017, which UN investigators said involved killings and gang rapes with 'genocidal intent'.
Amnesty International also criticised Suu Kyi's administration for stirring up hatred against the Rohingya by labelling them 'terrorists', obstructing international investigations, and failing to repeal repressive laws used to silence critics. In September, Suu Kyi defended the imprisonment of two Reuters journalists who were jailed for investigating the massacre of Rohingya Muslims.
