“I am fortunate to be living in an age when the fate of prisoners of conscience anywhere has become the concern of peoples everywhere, an age when democracy and human rights are widely, even if not universally, accepted as the birthright of all. How often during my years under house arrest have I drawn strength from my favourite passages in the preamble to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights:
……. disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind, and the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspirations of the common people,
…… it is essential, if man is not to be compelled to have recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression, that human rights should be protected by the rule of law . . .
If I am asked why I am fighting for human rights in Burma the above passages will provide the answer. If I am asked why I am fighting for democracy in Burma, it is because I believe that democratic institutions and practices are necessary for the guarantee of human rights”
Excerpts from Suu Kyis Nobel Lecture 16 June 2012
Suu Kyi was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 for her *non-violent struggle for democracy and human rights*, and as *one of the most extraordinary examples of civil courage in Asia in recent decades*.
“In the good fight for peace and reconciliation, we are dependent on persons who set examples, persons who can symbolise what we are seeking and mobilise the best in us. Aung San Suu Kyi is just such a person. She unites deep commitment and tenacity with a vision in which the end and the means form a single unit. The central position given to human rights in her thinking appears to reflect a real sense of the need to protect human dignity. Man is not only entitled to live in a free society; he also has a right to respect. And in her case this is more than just a theory: she has gone a long way towards showing how such a doctrine can be translated into practical politics”.
Excerpt from the Award Speech 1991
The long-awaited commemoration of the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize award that took place in Oslo framed what the Chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee Mr Jagland declared as one of the most remarkable events in the entire history of the Nobel Prize.
While in Norway Aung San Suu Kyi also received the Rafto Prize for Human Rights awarded to her in 1990.