SPD should ask Aung San Suu Kyi to give back the Willy Brandt Prize

On Friday, the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) appealed to the SPD leadership to ask Aung San Suu Kyi, Prime Minister of Burma / Myanmar, to give back the Willy Brandt Prize. The reason for this is that the leadership of the Southeast Asian country has now officially banned the term “Rohingya”, which is the self-designation of the country’s persecuted Muslim minority. “Willy Brand was very committed to international understanding. It is against the beliefs of the former Chancellor and against the spirit of the special award if a winner tries to legalize apartheid and to stifle criticism against such a serious violation of human rights on an international level,” said Ulrich Delius, the STP’s Asia-consultant, in Göttingen on Friday. Aung San Suu Kyi had been awarded with the Willy Brandt Prize by SPD-chairman Sigmar Gabriel in April 2014.

The STP expressed indignation about the reaction of the European Union (EU). Yesterday, the ambassador to Myanmar, Roland Kobia, had publicly assured that the term “Rohingya” would no longer be used. “This is an indictment for Europe’s human rights policy – which should not be about trying to appease Burma’s leadership, but to ensure that the Rohingya (the world’s most persecuted ethnic group, according to the United Nations) can rely on minimum human rights standards,” said Delius. “It is shameful that the EU seems to have given up the consensus the constitutional states had stuck to so far.” For example, the US government refuses to be intimidated by Myanmar and will continue to use the term “Rohingya”. “A political problem that might destabilize Burma cannot be solved by ignoring it,” said the STP’s speaker.

On Wednesday, the government of Myanmar – led by Aung San Suu Kyi – had officially banned the term “Rohingya”, and even other governments around the world as well as the United Nations were urged to stop using the oppressed minority’s self-designation. Instead, the Rohingya are now to be referred to as “people who believe in Islam”. “This is not only absurd, but also highly dangerous. Ethnic identity is being mixed up with religious beliefs,” warned Delius. “This gives the wrong impression that all Muslims in Burma belong to the Rohingya are and thus not recognized as citizens. This is poison for the coexistence between Muslims and Buddhists in Burma.”

There are also other Muslim minorities in Burma. The Kaman, for example, are an officially recognized ethnic group that has been living in the country for generations. In contrast, the authorities refuse to recognize most of the Rohingya as citizens because are unable to present proof that their families have been living in the country since the mid-19th century.

Header photo: Claude TRUONG-NGOC via Wikimedia Commons