(CNN)Myanmar's de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been stripped of an award by the British city of Oxford, where she went to university, for her handling of the Rohingya crisis.
The
Oxford City Council voted unanimously to take the "unprecedented" step
of revoking the city's highest honor, the Freedom of the City of Oxford,
that was bestowed upon her in 1997. She graduated from Oxford
University's St. Hugh's College in 1967.
Suu
Kyi has been roundly criticized in the international community for
failing to condemn the alleged ethnic cleansing of Rohingya Muslims in
the country's Rakhine State.
More
than 620,000 Rohingya have fled violence in the region since August 25,
crossing the Bangladesh border with stories of executions, rape and
torture.
The United States, United
Kingdom and United Nations have all declared that ethnic cleansing has
taken place. Myanmar's military says it was targeting terrorists who
carried out a series of deadly attacks on security forces.
Oxford City Council has removed the Freedom of the City of Oxford from Aung San Suu Kyi.— Oxford City Council (@OxfordCity) November 27, 2017
The cross-party motion was unanimously supported at a special council meeting moments ago. pic.twitter.com/GXYiJIdxGI
Suu Kyi will meet with Pope Francis Tuesday
in the capital of Naypyidaw, where it's likely the pair will discuss
the issue. Francis' visit is the first by a Pope to Myanmar, once known
as Burma.
She leads the country in a
power-sharing agreement with the military but she has little has little
if any control over the country's armed forces. However, international
human rights advocates hoped the Nobel Laureate would use her moral
authority to speak out on behalf of the Rohingya.
Suu Kyi won a Nobel Peace Prize
in 1991 for being "an outstanding example of the power of the
powerless" during her nonviolent protest against the military junta that
ruled the country for years.
Oxford announced last month that it would strip Suu Kyi of its award, and on Monday put forward the recommendation at a council meeting.
"Aung
San Suu Kyi has denied any ethnic cleansing and dismissed numerous
claims of sexual violence against Rohingya women as 'fake rape,'"
Councilor Mary Clarkson said in a statement posted on Twitter.
"Oxford
has a long tradition of being a diverse and humane city, and our
reputation is tarnished by honoring those who turn a blind eye to
violence."
Earlier in November, Musician Bob Geldof returned his Freedom of the City of Dublin award, which Suu Kyi also has, in protest over her handling of the Rohingya crisis.
"It
turned out that she's a killer, and I don't want to be on the same list
as what the UN described as a genocide," Geldof said.
A Change.org petition calling for the Nobel Peace Prize committee to strip Suu Kyi of her award has garnered more than 430,000 signatures.
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