City of London’s Council muddled over honour for Aung San Suu Kyi
The City of London Corporation is grappling with a decision over whether to strip Aung San Suu Kyi of the Freedom of the City, with some councillors questioning whether there is enough evidence to condemn Myanmar’s de facto leader for her failure to stop the genocide of Rohingya Muslims.
In a controversial ceremony last year, Suu Kyi was awarded the Freedom of the City, weeks after the United Nations (UN) started its investigation into human rights abuses in Myanmar.
Councillors opposed to the honouring of Suu Kyi boycotted the ceremony and, in October, gained support for their bid to have the City of London Corporation examine whether the honour could be removed.
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At a high-level committee meeting last week, officials including policy chief Catherine McGuinness were presented with evidence of the thousands of refugees living in camps in Bangladesh. An official report presented to the Freedoms Application Committee, which presides over the award, talked about the genocide in Myanmar, with evidence supplied by prominent UK politicians.
The review, which has not been made available to the public, also noted other cities have revoked ceremonial honours bestowed on Suu Kyi. Oxford, Dublin and Newcastle stripped Suu Kyi of their respective city Freedoms last year.
City A.M. sources said the Corporation is currently locked in two disputes. Firstly, it must outline a process for stripping a recipient of the Freedom; the prestigious honour, which was first presented in 1237, has never been rescinded and it is unclear if a procedure exists to do so.
Meanwhile, political disputes are playing out between the members of the Court of Common Council, the decision-making body of the Corporation. City A.M. understands some councillors are concerned they have not been given enough evidence about the ongoing crisis in Myanmar.
Disagreements came to a head at a private meeting of the Court of Common Council on Thursday. Members were informed that a decision over the process of removing the Freedom, and whether to remove it, will not be made until May – seven months after councillors voted to review the process of revoking the honour, and a year after Suu Kyi attended a ceremony in the Guildhall to receive it. One councillor present told City A.M. that everyone taking part in the 90-minute meeting were horrified about the crisis in Myanmar, and that it was “one of the most thoughtful” discussions that had taken place in the Council in recent years.
Boris Johnson visited a refugee camp this week (Source: Getty)
Nearly 700,000 Rohingya have fled brutal violence in Rakhine state in Myanmar since August last year and are now living in camps in southern Bangladesh.
Foreign secretary Boris Johnson flew to Myanmar earlier this week to observe the destruction of the Rakhine state first-hand. He held talks with Suu Kyi, but said she did not understand the “full horror” of what was happening to the Rohingya Muslims.
Rex Tillerson, US secretary of state, has condemned the “ethnic cleansing” of the Rohingya by the Myanmar military, and the US is urging the UN Security Council to pressure Suu Kyi to acknowledge the genocide and hold the military to account.
A spokesperson for the City of London Corporation said:
“The City of London Corporation condemns the shocking humanitarian abuses carried out in Myanmar.”
We will continue to monitor the situation while we review the procedure surrounding the award of Honorary Freedoms.
He added: “The City of London Corporation has already written to the Ambassador for Burma expressing our profound concern about the current situation in his country and a wish that Aung San Suu Kyi should play a more active role.”