Phyoe Phyoe Aung (Burmese: ဖြိုးဖြိုးအောင်; born 25 August 1988) is a student activist and former political prisoner from Burma (Myanmar).[2] Her father is also an activist and was repeatedly arrested and sentenced for long prison terms under the military regime.[3] She was one year old when her father was arrested and sentenced for 20 years in 1989. She was awarded an International Women of Courage Award in 2021.[4]
Phyoe Phyoe Aung | |
|---|---|
ဖြိုးဖြိုးအောင် | |
 | |
| Born | August 25, 1988[1] |
| Organization | All Burma Federation of Student Unions |
| Known for | Activism |
| Movement | Saffron Revolution, Education reform campaign |
| Parent(s) | Ne Win (activist) Thandar |
Political imprisonment
editPhyoe Phyoe Aung was involved in the Saffron Revolution in 2007 and went into hiding. She worked together with her father in collecting the bodies for burial after Cyclone Nargis hit the Delta Region in May 2008. Both were arrested with others during their trip back to Yangon. She was sentenced for 4 years in prison by the military junta in June 2008. She was studying civil engineering at that time. She was released from Mawlamyaing Prison in October 2011 and became the general secretary of the All Burma Federation of Student Unions (ABFSU) and a member of the Democratic Education Movement Leading Committee at the age of 27.[5][6] She became a prominent leader of education reform campaign in 2014–15.
She was one of the leaders of students marching from Mandalay to Yangon to protest the new National Education Bill, and the protest was violently suppressed by the Myanmar Police Force in Letpadan Township on 10 March 2015. She attended sequel of meetings with Ministers and various stakeholders to discuss education bill and reform at Yangon, after which she was arrested.[7][8]
Awards and recognitions
editHer courage was praised by former American President George W. Bush.[9] She received the Citizen of Burma Award for 2015.[10][11] Amnesty International has declared her a prisoner of conscience.[12]
On International Women's Day in 2021 she was given the International Women of Courage Award from the US Secretary of State, Tony Blinken. The ceremony was virtual due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and it included an address by First Lady, Dr. Jill Biden. After the award ceremony all of the fourteen awardees would be able to take part in a virtual exchange as part an International Visitor Leadership Program.[13]
She was released in April 2016.[14]
References
edit- ^ Htet Htet Aung (17 June 2015). "သူ့ အမေပြောတဲ့ ဖြိုးဖြိုးအောင်" (in Burmese). Mizzima News. Retrieved 23 February 2020.
- ^ "Miss Phyoe Phyoe Aung@ Hnin Pwint Wai". burmawatchinternational1989.blogspot.com/. Burma Watch International 1989. Retrieved 9 June 2015.
- ^ Mathieson, David (2009). Burma's Forgotten Prisoners. Human Rights Watch. ISBN 978-1-56432-517-4.
- ^ "2021 International Women of Courage Award Recipients Announced". US Department of State. 4 March 2021. Retrieved 5 March 2021.
- ^ "The story of the white rose". elevenmyanmar.com/. Archived from the original on 6 July 2015. Retrieved 8 June 2015.
- ^ "Phyo Phyo Aung, former political prisoner and member of Burma's ABFSU | James Mackay". Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2015-06-08.
- ^ Nobel Zaw. "Protests Continue as Students, Govt Discuss Education Reform". IRRAWADDY. Retrieved 8 June 2015.
- ^ Sithu. "Myanmar, Students Agree on Education Reforms". voanews.com/. Retrieved 8 June 2015.
- ^ "Miss Phyoe Phyoe Aung Ca A Kuat". chinlandtoday.info/. Retrieved 8 June 2015.
- ^ "၂ဝ၁၅ ျပည္သူ႔ဂုဏ္ရည္ဆု မၿဖိဳးၿဖိဳးေအာင္ ရရွိ". Radio Free Asia. Retrieved 8 June 2015.
- ^ "ပြည်သူ့ဂုဏ်ရည်ဆု အကျဉ်းစံ ဗကသ မဖြိုးဖြိုးအောင် ဆွတ်ခူး". BBC. 8 June 2015. Retrieved 8 June 2015.
- ^ "Miss Phyoe Phyoe Aung, Myanmar". Amnesty International. Retrieved 3 January 2016.
- ^ D. | AP, Sonia PÉrez. "3 female Guatemalan judges defend rule of law". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2021-03-09.
- ^ Moe, Wai; Paddock, Richard C. (2016-04-08). "Myanmar Releases Dozens of Student Activists From Jail". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2016-04-08.
