Nobel Women's Initiative

June 19 marks the 65th birthday of Aung San Suu Kyi, who has spent more than 14 of the past 20 years in detention in Burma.  She is the democratically elected leader of Burma, and the world's only imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize winner.  

The Nobel Women's Initiative has released a statement to mark the occasion, honouring their sister Laureate and calling for international action to promote peace and democracy in Burma.  Nobel Laureate Shirin Ebadi also recorded a special video message in solidarity with the people of Burma.

Read the Nobel Women's Initiative statement and watch the video message from Shirin Ebadi below.

Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi's pro-democracy party was legally dissolved last Thursday, marking the end of the party's 21-year struggle to overturn military rule in Burma. 

Members of the National League for Democracy (NLD) decided to disband the party rather than ratify new election laws that they feared would make them puppets of the current regime. 

Today the Nobel Women's Initiative and the Women's League of Burma launched the report for the International Tribunal on Crimes Against Women of Burma.

The Tribunal--which took place in New York on March 2, 2010--was a catalyst for action on the situation in Burma. The Tribunal featured testimony from twelve women of Burma. The report includes findings and recommendations aimed at the international community, the Burmese regime and civil society.

Nobel Peace Laureate, Aung San Suu Kyi, has announced she will not take part in the upcoming elections in Burma. She outlined her opposition to the miliary regime in a six point message sent to her party. The National League for Democracy (NLD) reviewed her message at a meeting to decide the party's position on the election and voted to boycott the elections.  Under the new election laws their decision means that the NLD will likely be abolished within six weeks. The party must now develop a strategy to remain relevent outside of formal politics.

Nobel Peace Laureates Shirin Ebadi,  Jody Williams and Thin Thin Aung of the Women's League of Burma met yesterday with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to deliver the findings and recommendations of the International Tribunal on Crimes Against Women in Burma, held earlier this week in New York. Thin Thin asked his support in pushing the UN Security Council to implement its own resolutions on violence against women.

View the archived webcast.

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Read some of the stories of the women who are testifying at the tribunal.

We are Live Blogging during the tribunal today.

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LEARN MORE about the tribunal.

Burma's Supreme Court began hearing Aung San Suu Kyi's appeal against the 18-month extension of her house arrest on Monday. Her lawyers are optimistic about the outcome and will hear the ruling within a month.

Under Burma's newly adopted constitution, the extension of her arrest means that she will not be eligible to run in this year's pending elections. The military junta has promised its citizens and the international community that elections will be held in 2010, the first time since 1990, although a date has not been set.

Fourteen Nobel Laureates today released an open letter to the members of the United Nations Security Council. This, in response to the wrongful conviction and sentencing of Aung San Suu Kyi --Burma’s democratically elected leader.

Signatories to the open letter include Archbishop Desmond Tutu, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, President Mikhail Gorbachev, and Nobel Women's Initiative Laureates Shirin Ebadi, Wangari Maathai, Mairead Maguire, Rigoberta Menchú Tum, Betty Williams and Jody Williams.

Nobel Peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi was sentenced today to an additional 18 months under house arrest. Suu Kyi was charged with breaching the terms of her house arrest when she offered temporary shelter to an American after he swam to her lakeside home uninvited.

Initially, the court sentenced Suu Kyi to three years imprisonment involving hard labour, but the Burmese military regime announced to the court that they would be reducing her sentence.

Critics have continually charged that Suu Kyi's trial and ongoing detention are attempts by the military junta to keep her out of Burma's 2010 national elections.