Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi to get humanitarian award

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi of Myanmar will be honored as the 2016 humanitarian of the year by students and faculty at the Harvard Foundation.

Suu Kyi gained international prominence as the General Secretary of the newly formed National League for Democracy in Myanmar in 1990. She became one of the world’s most well-known political prisoners during her 15 years of house arrest for participating in protests against the government.

Later, she was supported by her country and was appointed to the newly created role of State Counselor, a title equivalent to Prime Minister.

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The 1991 Nobel Peace Prize Committee praised her for her "non-violent struggle for democracy and human rights." 

She will receive the Harvard Peter J. Gomes Humanitarian Award during a ceremony on Saturday.

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