EDUCATION

Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi to get humanitarian award

Associated Press
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FILE - In this Sept. 15, 2016 file photo, Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi, is attends a meeting on Capitol Hill in Washington. The 1991 Nobel Peace Prize laureate will receive the Harvard Foundation's 2016 Harvard Peter J. Gomes Humanitarian Award on Saturday, Sept. 17 in Cambridge, Mass. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File) (The Associated Press)

FILE - In this Sept. 15, 2016 file photo, Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi, is attends a meeting on Capitol Hill in Washington. The 1991 Nobel Peace Prize laureate will receive the Harvard Foundation's 2016 Harvard Peter J. Gomes Humanitarian Award on Saturday, Sept. 17 in Cambridge, Mass. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File) (The Associated Press)

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi (ahng sahn soo chee) of Myanmar will be honored as the 2016 humanitarian of the year by students and faculty at the Harvard Foundation.

Suu Kyi gained international prominence as the General Secretary of the newly formed National League for Democracy in Myanmar in 1990. She became one of the world's most well-known political prisoners during her 15 years of house arrest for participating in anti-government protests. Her country later supported her, and she was appointed to the newly created position of state counselor, which is similar to prime minister.

The 1991 Nobel Peace Prize Committee praised her for her "non-violent struggle for democracy and human rights."

She will receive the foundation's Peter J. Gomes Humanitarian Award during a ceremony Saturday.