Who Is Aung San Suu Kyi?

You should know. More from CNN.

Some quick facts:

1) She was freely elected by the Burmese people with an overwhelming 82% majority in 1990 – a general election called for by the military junta in power. The party she represented is called the National League for Democracy.

2) The military did not recognize her victory, instead putting Suu Kyi under house arrest.

3) She was the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 – her sons accepted the honor on her behalf in Oslo, Norway.

4) She has not seen her children since 1999, as they live in the United Kingdom, and she is again under house arrest.

5) Suu Kyi was supposed to be granted freedom from house arrest in May of this year, but the Burmese government extended the house arrest for another year – she is still being held under Burma’s State Protection Act.

Myanmar has drawn comparisons to North Korea, primarily for three reasons: geographic location, military rule, and closed economies. But some hope:

“Unlike North Korea, however, Burma's military government (which refers to the country as Myanmar) faces a significant opposition movement. Likewise, the military junta, which has failed to recognize the 1990 elections won by the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD), appears to be on the threshold of reintroducing some measure of democracy.

“Although opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi remains under house arrest and the NLD has boycotted the national convention, the 1,000- plus delegates at the convention plan to complete a new constitution by year's end as part of the government's ‘seven-stage path to democracy.’

“The government promises to put the new constitution to a vote in a national referendum followed by multiparty elections that reserve a certain portion of seats in the new parliament for the government party.”

More reason for a newly elected government? Human rights abuse and underage military service (from the same source):

“…critics of the regime describe a dismal human rights situation. Human Rights Watch has cited the regime for the detention of 1,300 political prisoners, the killing of protesters, and the use of 70,000 child soldiers, which is the largest concentration of under-18 conscripts in the world.

“According to Jeremy Woodrum of the U.S. Campaign for Burma, ‘over a million refugees, most of them from eastern Burma along the border with Thailand and China, are fleeing because the regime has burned down 3,000 villages over the last 10 years’ as part of an effort to target civilian populations in areas that provide a base for ethnic armies.

“This flow of refugees, as well as drug trafficking and the spread of infectious diseases, has made it very difficult for Asia to ignore Burma. These problems extend beyond the region as well. ‘Burma presents a serious security threat to the region and requires attention from the United States and the U.N. Security Council,’ argued Green, citing how the Security Council is moving forward to address Burma's rights record.”

So what has the United States been doing? As recently as September, First Lady Laura Bush called for Suu Kyi’s release, while also asking for action from the U.N. Security Council – action which has been slow. Here’s why (emphasis mine):

“‘It's really important for Burma's neighbors to speak with one voice,’ the first lady said. While the United States believes strong sanctions are the best way to force change in the country, others favor discussions with the generals.”

Discussions with hostile regimes…sound familiar?

More on U.S. policy towards Myanmar, as well as comparisons to North Korea, here.

The European Union has also tried to crack down on Myanmar. So has Amnesty International.

Also, this past November, Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy Party asked for U.N. help, though there have been claims from both China and Russia that Myanmar represents no threat to stability in the Southeast Asian region…

Really? I suppose China and Russia don’t consider money-laundering a threat. Or a potential AIDS pandemic. Or the outflow of Burmese refugees to neighboring countries, numbering in the millions… primarily for the sex trade industry.

I’ll continue to track her story. I’ll leave you with her Nobel Prize acceptance speech from 1991. Who could predict that “Burma's long struggle for peace, freedom and democracy” would reach such epic proportions…