Britain rolled out the red carpet for Aung San Suu Kyi today as she was welcomed by the Prime Minister at 10 Downing Street, delivered a historic speech to both houses of Britain’s Parliament, and then visited Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall at Clarence House.
In the climax of her landmark visit to the UK, the Burmese pro-democracy leader became the only woman, other than the Queen, to address both houses of Britain’s parliament.
The Burmese pro-democracy leader followed in the footsteps of Nelson Mandela, Pope Benedict XVI and US President Barack Obama to be invited to make a rare address at Westminster Hall.
Ms Suu Kyi’s historic speech followed a meeting with David Cameron at 10 Downing Street this morning, where the Prime Minister praised her as a global symbol of courage and hope.
Later this afternoon she then met Prince Charles and Camilla where she covered the roots of a black tulip magnolia sapling, on her first trip to Britain in 24 years.
Delivering the history speech in Westminster this morning, the Nobel peace laureate said she was seeking practical help to address the problems still besetting her country.
She appealed to Britain ‘as friend and an equal’ to support the people of Burma in their drive for democracy.
In particular, she said she hoped the UK could help rebuild the education system while providing new investment for the future.
Aung San Suu Kyi MP AC is a Burmese opposition politician and chairperson of the National League for Democracy (NLD) in Burma. In the 1990 general election, the NLD won 59% of the national votes and 81% (392 of 485) of the seats in Parliament. She had, however, already been detained under house arrest before the elections. She remained under house arrest in Burma for almost 15 of the 21 years from 20 July 1989 until her most recent release on 13 November 2010, becoming one of the world’s most prominent (now former) political prisoners.
Suu Kyi received the Rafto Prize and the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought in 1990 and the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991. In 1992 she was awarded the Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding by the government of India and the International Simón Bolívar Prize from the government of Venezuela. In 2007, the Government of Canada made her an honorary citizen of that country; at the time, she was one of only four people ever to receive the honor. In 2011, she was awarded the Wallenberg Medal.
On 1 April 2012, her opposition party, the National League for Democracy, announced that she was elected to the Pyithu Hluttaw, the lower house of the Burmese parliament, representing the constituency of Kawhmu; her party also won 43 of the 45 vacant seats in the lower house. The election results were confirmed by the official electoral commission the following day.
Suu Kyi is the third child and only daughter of Aung San, considered to be the father of modern-day Burma.
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