Myanmar activist wins Anna Lindh Prize

Jun 2, 2008, 8:28 GMT

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.