Suu Kyi won't lose Nobel Peace Prize despite UN genocide report, committee says

The Nobel Peace Prizeto Aung San Suu Kyi will not be withdrawn in the light of aUnited Nations report that said Myanmar's military carried outmass killings of Muslim Rohingya, the Norwegian Nobel Committeesaid on Wednesday.

On Monday, UN investigators said Myanmar's military carried out mass killings and gang rapes "with genocidal intent." They said the commander-in-chief and five generals should be prosecuted for the gravest crimes under international law.

Aung San Suu Kyi, who leads the Myanmar government and wonthe Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 for campaigning for democracy, hasbeen criticized for failing to speak out against the armycrackdown in Rakhinestate.

"It's important to remember that a Nobel Prize, whether inPhysics, Literature or Peace, is awarded for some prize-worthyeffort or achievement of the past," said Olav Njoelstad, thesecretary of the Norwegian Nobel Committee.

"Aung San Suu Kyi won the Nobel Peace Prize for her fightfor democracy and freedom up until 1991, the year she wasawarded the prize," he said.

And the rules regulating the Nobel Prizes do not allow for aprize to be withdrawn, he added.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee consists of a panel of fiveNorwegians, mostly former politicians and academics, that reflect the different forces in the Norwegian Parliament. Theother Nobel prizes are awarded in Sweden.

Last year, the head of the Committee, Berit Reiss-Andersen,also said it would not strip the award after previous criticismof Aung San Suu Kyi's role in the Rohingya crisis.

"We don't do it. It's not our task to oversee or censor whata laureate does after the prize has been won," she said in atelevision interview. "The prize winners themselves have tosafeguard their own reputations."