# Suu Kyi is awarded the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize

Date: 1991

## The fact

On 14 October 1991 the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded [Aung San Suu Kyi](/people/aung-san-suu-kyi) the Peace Prize while she remained under house arrest.

## Context

Sons accepted in Oslo. She did not collect it in person until 2012. A prize is still a dated international-recognition instrument.

1989 arrest is the neighbouring custody row. 2012 Oslo visit is much later.

Myanmar’s State Counsellor (2016–2021) was de facto civilian head under the 2008 Constitution; she did not command the Tatmadaw’s autonomous ministries, write a Bangladeshi gazette, an ICJ merits judgment, or a 2026 [Min Aung Hlaing](/people/min-aung-hlaing) amnesty. She has been detained since 1 February 2021; as of August 2026 she is under house arrest after sentence commutations, not in office. A Nobel lecture is not a clearance-operation order. An ICJ appearance is not a personal genocide conviction. A junta court sentence is not a finding that every charge was true. Allegation of a stolen 2020 count is not stored as a completed steal. A Panglong speech is not a nationwide ceasefire. A Reuters conviction is not a completed finding that the journalists planted evidence. A 2026 ICRC visit is not a release.

## Evidence and sources

Norwegian Nobel Committee carries the official instrument or communique. Reuters records the same dated act independently.

## Significance

The path is [democratic resilience](/drivers/democratic-resilience) and humanitarian attention: a completed Peace Prize raised the cost of keeping her detained.

## What is established and what is not

Established: a 14 October 1991 Nobel Peace Prize, independently reported, while she was detained.

Not established: that the prize bound later Rakhine policy, or a unique later body-count coefficient.

What would change the picture: a contradictory original with a different date or name, a later repeal, a court that vacated the instrument, or a measured series that can be argued, with lag and alternatives, as a consequence of this instrument rather than of later institutions.

The date is the date of this instrument, not a licence to back-date every later harm or benefit.

She remained detained. SLORC still held the guns.. A later repeal, court stay, or successor order would be a different Fact with a different date. That pair identifies Suu Kyi is awarded the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize, not a later speech about Suu Kyi is awarded the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize.

Co-authors and later implementers named in Context remain on the file. Suu Kyi is awarded the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize on 1991-10-14 is not a licence to treat every later Norwegian Nobel Committee communique as this same act. If a later repeal, stay, or successor instrument exists, it needs its own date and its own row. This dossier refuses to average Suu Kyi is awarded the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize into a personality. The contribution described on this Person row is limited to The Committee awarded. She remained detained. SLORC still held the guns. That limit is the alternative to treating office-holding as authorship of every later series.

## People

- Aung San Suu Kyi: https://factrail.ai/people/aung-san-suu-kyi

## Drivers

- Democratic Resilience: https://factrail.ai/drivers/democratic-resilience
- Humanitarian Access: https://factrail.ai/drivers/humanitarian-access

## Sources

- https://www.reuters.com/article/us-nobel-suukyi-idUSKBN1L23C4
- https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/1991/summary/

## Methodology

https://factrail.ai/methodology

Canonical: https://factrail.ai/facts/mm-suu-nobel-1991