How Did Aung San Suu Kyi Fight For Human Rights

Fighting for human rights is not the norm for human beings. An Asian woman named Aung San Suu Kyi was under house arrest for fifteen years because she fought for human rights. She is a great political activist in Burma, a country located in South East Asia. Her father General Aung San promoted democracy in Burma, but was killed by assassins. Suu Kyi and her mother moved to New Delhi, India, and she finished the university there. After many years, she returned to Burma, and started her political life. In 1989, the dictatorship of Burma denied the results of the democratic election, so Suu Kyi was put under house arrest. There are three important periods for Aung San Suu Kyi’s life: the time in India and England, the beginning of her political life, and the time of her house arrest.

Her life in India and England has the great influence on her political life. She went to Delhi University. She studied the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi, who advocated nonviolent civil disobedience, who used voluntary starvation, a peaceful practice that affected only himself directly, to show determination and

conviction in the fight against British rule. Gandhi's nonviolent struggle thought to become the important spiritual pillar of her. She attended to Oxford University for further study, and She met her husband, Michael Aris, who gave her great supporting in future. Suu Kyi worked in university and cared for her family. Her education and family provided a solid foundation for future.
After many years, Suu Kyi returned to Burma to take care her dying mother and started her political life.

In Burma, she found violence and the military dictatorship in power. The military regime perpetrated various human rights, jailing and murdering thousands of anti-government protectors and opposition supporters. Based on the family background, Suu Kyi thought she had a duty to help people, so she joined the protest movements and co-found the National League for Democracy(NLD). The league espoused human rights, most importantly the people’s right to choose their own government(Ashby& Ohrn 1995). she traveled throughout Burma making hundreds of speeches calling for reform. In May 1989, the NLD won most seats in government in the election, but the military regime denied the results of the election. She was put under house arrest without charges for fifteen

years.
During the fifteen years house arrest, she did not give up for fighting. She earned the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991, one of many awards recognizing her passion for and commitment to human rights, but she could not collect the prize personally as she remained under house arrest. She refused to use any of the $1.3 million in prize money for her own personal needs, instead she used the money to set up a health and education trust for the people of Burma(Martin, 2011). In the years of solitude, she spent five or six hours a day listening to the radio, this is not an easy thing, but she insisted down, she would pass this way to understand people's life in what state, found that what they really need. She was offered her freedom if she left Burma, she chose to remain in her country and endured with dignity her house arrest, as a symbol of peace and determination to her people. On November 13, 2010, Suu Kyi was released after spending fifteen of the last twenty-one years under house arrest.
In conclusion, Aung San Suu Kyi is a symbol of hope in Burma, is the spiritual leader for the country, like Gandhi of India, Nelson Mandela in South Africa. Gandhi and western thoughts have a profound effect on her. The factor from family brings her a great responsibility for people of Burma. She did not give up for civil rights, even lose her freedom. Fighting for human rights is a road full of thorns, but She has never given up.