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HONG KONG – Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar's civil leader, has been stripped of her honorary Canadian citizenship because of her inaction in the face of military violence against Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar.
Senators unanimously adopted a measure revoking his citizenship and declaring that the treatment of Rohingya by the Myanmar government constituted genocide. The same actions were approved unanimously last week by the House of Commons.
These votes were motivated in part by a United Nations investigation that in August requested that six senior generals of Myanmar be tried for genocide and crimes against humanity.
More than 700,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled the Bangladeshi border since August 2017, when Myanmar's predominantly Buddhist security forces launched a violent campaign in Rakhine State, including executions, gang rapes, and mass murder. fire of hundreds of villages. About 10,000 people were killed, according to the United Nations.
The Rohingya crisis and Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi's response to this crisis have dramatically transformed her global reputation as the icon of democracy.
Senator Ratna Omidvar, who introduced the motion in the Canadian Chamber, said that while the military has considerable power in Myanmar, Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi – who holds a position comparable to that of premier – Is not without power.
"To strip her of her honorary citizenship may not make a tangible difference to her, but it sends an important symbolic message," Omidvar said. "She has been complicit in the withdrawal of citizenship and security of thousands of Rohingya, resulting in their flight, murder, rape and deplorable situation."
Ms. Omidvar also spoke about the imprisonment of two Reuters journalists covering atrocities. Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi defended the verdict and sentence of the judge in this case.
Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi received the honorary citizenship of Canada in October 2007 for her democracy campaign in Myanmar, where she spent 15 years under house arrest under the former military government. She received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991.
Lars Heikensten, President of the Nobel Foundation, told Reuters last week that if Aung San Suu Kyi's actions were "regrettable", her Nobel Peace Prize would not be canceled because it made no sense to judge the winners on their actions after receiving their price.
Malala Yousafzai, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and education activist, as well as the Dalai Lama are also among the citizens of honor of Canadian citizenship.
