Dear Norwegian Nobel Committee,
Nearly 125,000 Rohingya have fled Myanmar in recent weeks to Bangladesh to escape a military offensive that has set villages ablaze and claimed the lives of hundreds of their brothers and sisters. Individuals, organizations and governments all around the world have spoken up against this systematic violence agaist Muslims in Myanmar. But there’s one person who we’re still waiting on – someone who should have condemned this massacre long ago and used all her influence to end it. We’ve waited for Myanmar’s Nelson Mandela to voice her disgust at the violent dehumanization of the Rohingya but it seems Aung San Suu Kyi has chosen a shameful silence instead. This Aung San Suu Kyi is not the Aung San Suu Kyi honored with the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 for her struggle for human rights and democracy. This Aung San Suu Kyi does not deserve to carry the title of “Nobel Peace Prize Laureate.”
It is not befitting for a humane being, let alone a world-renowned Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, to remain silent when innocent men, women and children are killed by the hundreds in her own country. But Aung San Suu Kyi has not just stayed shamefully silent, she has denied the well-documented repression of the Rohingya and obstructed humanitarian aid. This Aung San Suu Kyi cannot be the peaceful freedom fighter who spent 15 years under house arrest for resisting repression.
For decades, more than one million Rohingya Muslims have lived in Myanmar under the label of illegal immigrants, without access to citizenship or government services. This past decade they have been victims of violent military campaigns that the United Nations said, “very likely” constitute crimes against humanity. We cannot condemn these crimes against humanity and at the same time hail Aung San Suu Kyi as a Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. We, the signatories of this letter, choose to stand with the oppressed Rohingya.
We realize that not all Nobel Peace Prize Laureates are saints, but believe that there is a basic characteristic that all recipients must have – commitment to human rights and peace. The Aung San Suu Kyi we see today seems to have abandoned her commitment to these values. We call on the Norwegian Nobel Committee to urge Aung San Suu Kyi to condemn the human rights abuses against the Rohingya and reestablish her commitment to the values of human rights and peace.
Sincerely,
Rebiya Kadeer
President, International Uyghur Human Rights & Democracy Foundation