As she and the people of her country continue to struggle for freedom, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi will turn 63 today while spending yet another year under house arrest. While her work carries on all over the world, we honor our sister laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and the ongoing struggles of the Burmese people.

As Nilar Thein, a former student leader in the 1988 democracy uprising in Burma and political prisoner, wrote in The Nation (Thailand),

“My mind wanders to University Avenue, where “the Lady”, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, has been detained under house arrest for so many years. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the world’s only imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize recipient, will have to spend her 63rd birthday today alone in detention. She will be missing her two sons, too. Her strength and determination helps me and many women in Burma stand up for justice. I thank her for being with us and leading our movement. She is a great reminder to the world that the military junta that rules our country forcibly separates mothers and children.”

Aung San Suu Kyi has dedicated her life to democracy and human rights. Her party, the National League for Democracy (NLD) overwhelmingly won a 1990 general election, yet she has been detained in her home without trial for 13 of the past 19 years, and continuously since May 2003. We honor our sister laureate today for her ‘freedom from fear’, for her commitment to nonviolence and determination to address the needs of her country and her people.
As international aid trickles in to Burma following the cyclone, we urge world leaders, in Asia and throughout the world, to work for democracy and freedom in Burma. We strongly believe that solutions to Burma’s current humanitarian crisis are very much tied to its on-going political crisis. As Min Zin noted in The Irrawaddy, “Engaging humanitarian work and pushing for genuine political transition should not be mutually exclusive. The international community must renew its attention on Burma’s political crisis.”

We call upon the international community to meet with all stakeholders, including  and others struggling for democracy when conducting humanitarian relief assessments and visits. We urge the international community to continue to actively work to implement arms embargoes against the military regime. It is time for freedom, freedom of movement for the people of Burma, and freedom for Aung San Suu Kyi.

LEARN MORE

Who will save Burma’s women and children?, The Nation, 19 June 2008

An appeal for Burma’s women, Boston Globe, 19 June 2008

Suu Kyi clebrates birthday with no hope of being freed soon, Mizzima, 18 June 2008

Aung San Suu Kyi’s 63rd Birthday today: Burma Monks urge UN Security Council to safeguard Burmese people, Asian Tribune, 19 June 2008

Watch a music video by Morley, in honor of Suu Kyi and other Women of Hope:

Read more about the use of Rape as a Weapon of War in Burma

UN Security Council Open Debate Sexual Violence in Conflict, June 19, 2008 resolution and statements posted on PeaceWomen

Read more about Burma on our Burma Issue page.