City of Oxford strips Suu Kyi of human rights award

Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been stripped of a human rights award by the City of Oxford, where she was an undergraduate, as British institutions increasingly distance themselves from the beleaguered former rights icon.

Oxford City Council voted unanimously this week to recommend Suu Kyi’s Freedom of the City award be withdrawn, citing deep concerns over the treatment of Rohingya Muslims under her watch.

The city’s reputation is “tarnished by honouring those who turn a blind eye to violence,” local councillor and Labour party member Mary Clarkson said in a speech proposing the motion.

Over 500,000 members of Myanmar’s Rohingya minority have fled across the border to Bangladesh since late August, when militant Rohingya attacks led to a violent crackdown by the army.

Myanmar’s de facto leader Suu Kyi, previously renowned for her human rights activism, has been widely criticised for her silence on the subject.