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Aung San Suu Kyi Visit Indicates Progress in US-Burma Relationship

Within the last year, Aung San Suu Kyi, has made the transition from being Burma’s most famous dissident to becoming a member of her country's parliament.

Her schedule on her U.S. trip includes a visit to Washington, where she will receive the Congressional Gold Medal, Congress' highest civilian¹ honor.

Human rights organizations say Aung San Suu Kyi’s release from decades of house arrest in 2010, national elections that same year and the release of hundreds of political prisoners constitute extraordinary progress toward ending the country’s repressive military rule. In the early 1990s the US imposed sanctions following the junta's refusal to hand over power to a democratically elected parliament, the violent suppression of popular protests, and other major human rights violations².

Burma’s President Thein Sein came to power last year and institued these reforms to seek relief from the economic sanctions. But Tom Malinowski, the Washington director for Human Rights Watch, says Aung San Suu Kyi has been promoting a more measured response. “She has supported a gradual lifting of sanctions against Burma. So have we. The question is how that process is sequenced and how it’s used to create incentives³ for more reform in Burma," he said.

There has already been some easing of restrictions⁴. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton recently led a business delegation⁵ to encourage investment in Burma. And international assistance and training programs are being established.

Still, Malinowsky says the U.S. must continue to press Burma's government for peaceful reconciliation⁶ with disenfranchised ethnic⁷ minorities, the release of all political prisoners and, most of all, real limits on the power of the military. “It’s not at all clear whether the military is going to cede⁸ the strong power it still has over most aspects of life in Burma. That is the real test and we have not yet seen whether Burma will meet that test," he said.

He says Aung San Suu Kyi’s high-profile visit to the U.S. is a step in the right direction and an indication that conditional⁹ engagement with Burma is working.