Nobel Committee said Wednesday Nobel Peace Prize awarded to Aung San Suu Kyi will not be taken away as believed earlier because latest report from United Nations related to Rohingay Muslims reveals Myanmar’s military carried out mass killings.
Earlier this week UN investigators said the military is responsible of gang rapes in the region with the intention of genocide. Under international law this is the gravest crimes and commander-in-chief along with five generals should be prosecuted.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded Aung San Suu Kyi with Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 for her democracy campaigning. She now leads Myanmar government and following the military crackdown on Rohingya Muslims in Rahine State she was widely criticised for failing to speak out against the army.
Secretary of the committee Olav Njoelstad said, “It’s important to remember that a Nobel Prize, whether in Physics, Literature or Peace, is awarded for some prize-worthy effort or achievement of the past.”
He added that the lady was awarded with prize for her efforts for democracy and freedom then and their rules do not allow stripping down a prize.
The committee consist five Norwegians and most of them are former politicians and academics.
Berit Reiss-Andersen, Head of the Committee, said last year the prize would not be withdrawn from Aung San Suu Kyi for her role in the Rohingya crisis.
He added that stripping is not their task and they do not oversee what a laureate does after winning it.
