Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi received the 2016 Humanitarian of the Year Award from Harvard University.
Aung San Suu Kyi of Myanmar was honored as the 2016 Humanitarian of the Year in a ceremony hosted by the students and faculty of the Harvard Foundation.
The Nobel Peace Prize laureate gained prominence when she became the General Secretary of the newly-formed National League for Democracy in Myanmar in 1990.
She became a political prisoner, one of the world’s most well-known political prisoner, when she was put under house arrest for participating in anti-government rallies and protests.
But later, Myanmar backed her, and she was appointed to the newly created position of the state counselor, whose work and functions are similar to a prime minister.
In 1991, Suu Kyi was praised by the Nobel Peace Prize Committee for her non-violent struggle for democracy and human rights”.
As she received the award, the Myanmar leader urged the people in the overflowing lecture hall to go out into the world and prove for themselves that hatred – any hatred – is rooted in fear.
“I believe that fear is at the root of all division, because fear leads to hatred, and hatred leads to division”.
The charismatic leader, now 71-years old, smiled and accepted the award, a gold medal on a red plaque, before a hundreds of pair of hands, clapping to applause her.
Suu Kyi was quoted saying, “I look upon this prize not as a reward for what I have done, but as a happy omen for what we are trying to achieve in the future”.
“In my country, there is still a long way to go before I can say that our people are both free and secure”, she added.
Suu Kyi was born in Myanmar’s former capital city of Yangon. She went to the University of Delhi and at Oxford University, and worked for the United Nations.
She married a British historian named Dr. Michael Aris to whom she had two children in England.
She only went back to England when her aging mother fell ill. There she started and led the National League for Democracy, the democratic opposition party.
After participating in anti-government protests, Suu Kyi was detained and spent 15 out of 21 years under house arrest imposed by the military dictatorship.