Stockholm - Exiled Myanmar activist Khin Ohmar was Monday
named winner of the Anna Lindh Prize, a human rights award created in
memory of the murdered Swedish foreign minister.
Khin Ohmar, a former student activist, has lived in exile for the
past 20 years and is currently based in Thailand where she is active
in the Burma Partnership that mobilizes people's organizations and
promotes democracy.
Former Swedish foreign minister Jan Eliasson, chair of the Anna
Lindh Prize committee, said the jury was 'very happy that Khin Ohmar
has accepted to receive the Anna Lindh Prize in this year when the
people of Burma's suffering has become so evident for us all.'
The prize, worth 250,000 kronor (41,000 dollars), was created as a
tribute to the late Swedish foreign minister Anna Lindh, who was
stabbed to death in September 2003.
The award was to be presented June 18, the day before Lindh would
have turned 51.
Khin Ohmar said in a statement that 'humanitarian assistance
should not be political, but humanitarian assistance alone cannot
solve Burma's humanitarian catastrophe,' referring to the recent
devastation caused by Cyclone Nargis and the military regime's slow
response.
'The basic reasons for the suffering of the Burmese people is
political and the solutions have to include means for political
change,' she added.
Last year Colombian activist Leonor Zalabata Torres won the prize
for campaigning for the rights of indigenous peoples in the South
American nation.
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