Amnesty International withdraws human rights prize for Myanmar’s Suu Kyi

Amnesty International has withdrawn its Ambassador of Conscience award previously bestowed to Myanmar’s leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, amid reported ethnic cleansing in her country.

“Our expectation was that you would continue to use your moral authority to speak out against injustice wherever you saw it, not least within Myanmar itself,” the human rights organization’s secretary general, Kumi Naidoo, wrote in a letter to Suu Kyi that he tweeted out Monday, as Amnesty announced the decision.

“Instead we are deeply alarmed and disappointed by your clear and consistent betrayal of the very values you promoted for decades.”

{mosads}Once lauded for her humanitarian work and efforts to ensure civilian rule, Suu Kyi has come under fire after the Myanmar military conducted what a United Nations report has called a “genocide” of the Rohingya people.

Naidoo wrote that Suu Kyi has overlooked and excused “the brutal oppression and crimes against humanity committed by the military against the Rohingya” and other ethnic minorities.

Amnesty’s secretary general added that Suu Kyi’s office “has actively shielded the military from international scrutiny and accountability.”

“We have also been appalled to witness your administration spread hate narratives against minorities, fostering rather than challenging discrimination and hostility.”

The New York Times reported in October that the military led a social media campaign to spread false and inflammatory information about the Rohingya.

Aung San Suu Kyi once stood as a symbol of hope, courage and the undying defence of human rights in #Myanmar.@amnesty recognised her with our highest honour, the Ambassador of Conscience award.

Sadly, we can no longer justify this honour and today we are withdrawing the award pic.twitter.com/gYenr0HAYg

— Kumi Naidoo (@kuminaidoo) November 12, 2018

The Nobel Prize Institute, who also honored Suu Kyi in the past, said in August that it has no plans to withdraw the award it gave her.

Meanwhile, international pressure is mounting against Suu Kyi’s regime to address the alleged ethnic cleansing, including from the U.S.