Oxford College removes Aung San Suu Kyi from common room name

Undergraduates at the Oxford College where Aung San Suu Kyi studied have voted to remove the de facto leader of Myanmar’s name from the title of their junior common room because of her response to the Rohingya humanitarian crisis.

In a vote on Thursday evening, students at St Hugh’s college at the University of Oxford resolved to eliminate the name of the 1991 Nobel peace laureate from the Aung San Suu Kyi junior common room with immediate effect.

The motion criticised the “silence and complicity” in her apparent defence of the country’s treatment of its Rohingya Muslim minority, who say they have suffered ethnic cleansing and violent attacks by Myanmar’s military forces.

The St Hugh’s resolution read: “Aung San Suu Kyi’s inability to condemn the mass murder, gang rape and severe human rights abuses in Rakhine is inexcusable and unacceptable. She has gone against the very principles and ideals she had once righteously promoted.”

In September, the governing body of St Hugh’s decided to remove a painting of her from its main entrance, days before the start of the university term and the arrival of new students.

At the start of October, Oxford city council voted unanimously to strip her of the Freedom of the City of Oxford.