UN Declares Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi Of Burma’s Detention Illegal;
Urges Her Immediate And Unconditional Release
Washington, D.C. – Today, Freedom Now released Opinion No. 46/2008 from the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention. The
judgment from this international tribunal declares unequivocally that the ongoing detention of Burmese democracy leader
Aung San Suu Kyi is illegal and in violation of both Burmese and international law. It also urges her immediate release:
The Working Group . . . declare[s] Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi’s placement under house arrest [is] arbitrary, being in
contravention of Articles 9, 10, and 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights . . . and even domestic law . . .
which itself contradicts to [sic] the basic principles and norms of modern international law . . . Consequent upon this
Opinion, the Working Group requests the Government to immediately release, without any condition, Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi
from her continued placement under house arrest.
An independent and impartial body of the UN Human Rights Council, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention consists
of experts from Chile, Pakistan, Russian Federation, Senegal, and Spain. Previously, the Working Group has issued four
opinions – 8/1992, 2/2002, 9/2004, and 2/2007 – that her prior terms of house arrest violated international law. This is
the first time the Working Group has declared her detention to also be a violation of domestic Burmese law.
After Ms. Suu Kyi’s political party and its allies won the 1990 elections in Burma with more than 80% of the
parliamentary seats, she has spent more than 13 of thelast 19 years under house arrest. “It is deeply unfortunate that
the Burmese junta continues to flagrantly violate its own and international law,” said Jared Genser, President of
Freedom Now, and lead attorney for Ms. Suu Kyi. “Previously, the UN Security Council, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon,
ASEAN, European Union, and United States have all called for Ms. Suu Kyi’s release. The only question remaining is how
long will Burma’s bold-face defiance of the international community be tolerated?” he added.
Freedom Now supports the Free Burma’s Political Prisoners Now Campaign www.fbppn.net, which aims to collect 888,888 signatures calling for the release of Ms. Suu Kyi and the more than 2,100 other
political prisoners in Burma.
ENDS