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#Myanmar - ALDE Group calls for European Parliament to revoke Aung San Suu Kyi’s Sakharov Prize

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The Liberal and Democrat group in the European Parliament calls on the House to revoke the Sakharov Prize awarded in 1990 and received in 2013 by Aung San Suu Kyi, due to her lack of moral leadership and compassion in the face of the Rohingya crisis. The report of the independent international fact-finding mission in Myanmar, released by UN Human Rights Council, points to the State Counsellor, Aung San Suu Kyi, for not using her de facto position as head of government, nor her moral authority, to stem or prevent the unfolding events, or seek alternative avenues to meet the responsibility to protect the civilian population.

ALDE MEP, Urmas Paet (Estonian Reform Party), said the European Parliament has a moral duty to fulfil: “Four years after Aung San Suu Kyi received the Sakharov Prize, Myanmar committed genocide against the Rohingya minority. The European Parliament should withdraw the Sakharov prize from the leader of Myanmar to send a clear message that these horrible crimes will not go without punishment. I also call on the UN Security Council to support a referral of Burmese military figures involved in abuses to the International Criminal Court.”

ALDE MEP, Beatriz Becerra (Independent, Spain), Vice-President of the Subcommittee on Human Rights, added: "Aung San Suu Kyi has abandoned the values that made her deserve the Sakharov Prize in 1990, and for this reason the European Parliament should withdraw it. If we do not, we will be devaluing one of the best initiatives we have to promote freedom of conscience and human rights, and also the memory of Sakharov himself, a man who upheld his principles until the end of his days."

The UN report concludes that top military commanders in Myanmar should be investigated and prosecuted for the “gravest” crimes against civilians under international law, including genocide. More than a million people have fled the extreme violence in Rakhine State, Myanmar, seeking shelter in Bangladesh and creating the world’s fastest growing refugee crisis.

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