House of Commons unanimously votes to revoke Aung Sun Suu Kyi’s honourary Canadian citizenship

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(Aung Shine Oo / The Associated Press)

(Aung Shine Oo / The Associated Press)

MPs have unanimously endorsed a Bloc Quebecois motion to revoke the honorary Canadian citizenship of Myanmar’s de facto leader, Aung Sun Suu Kyi.

The vote followed Thursday’s question period and came one day after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said it was up to Parliament to decide whether to strip the honour given to Suu Kyi in 2007.

Suu Kyi has been widely criticized for not speaking out against the atrocities being committed against her country’s Rohingya people.

There is no formal procedure required for making someone an honorary citizen – it is a purely political decision – but precedent has been set for a joint resolution to be passed by the House of Commons and Senate in order to grant someone the honour.

Last week, the House of Commons unanimously adopted a motion to recognize the crimes against the Rohingya as genocide and to endorse a UN fact-finding mission outlining crimes against humanity by the Myanmar military.

House of Commons unanimously votes to call Myanmar Rohingya killings a genocide

The extensive report documented the systematic targeting of civilian Rohingya by the military, including mass gang rape, sexual slavery and the razing of hundreds of villages.

Source: The Canadian Press via Global News, 27 Sep 2018.

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