US Democrats considering revoking State Counsellor’s honour

12 March 2018
US Democrats considering revoking State Counsellor’s honour
(File) Myanmar's Member of Parliament and democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi holds the Congressional Gold Medal as she poses with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-CA, and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton September 19, 2012 in the Rotunda of the Capitol in Washington, DC. Photo: Mandel Ngan/AFP

Some Democrats in the United States are wondering whether Aung San Suu Kyi, the Myanmar human rights advocate and Nobel laureate, should be stripped of her Congressional Gold Medal, the nation's highest civilian honour, according to the website The Hill.
Congress voted unanimously in 2008 to present Suu Kyi with the award. A decade later, lawmakers are questioning whether the honor should be revoked over Suu Kyi's reticent response to Myanmar's campaign against the Rohingya.
Suu Kyi, now Myanmar's democratically elected civilian leader, has faced intense international backlash over the campaign, which the United Nations has deemed “acts of genocide.” Just this week the Smithsonian’s Holocaust Museum in Washington rescinded a prestigious award named after another Nobel Peace laureate, Elie Wiesel.