On 24 October, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi will mark her 13th year in detention. Yet, she remains committed to a peaceful, political solution that is needed now more than ever for the people of Burma. It is imperative that Burma’s neighbors and allies such China, India and ASEAN renew and strengthen efforts to secure the immediate and unconditional release of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and her colleagues. As the Burmese military junta’s gross mismanagement and oppression further entrenches Burma as a failed state, it is in the region’s interests that durable solutions are achieved.

This briefer profiles the experiences of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and some of the 178 other women prisoners of conscience known to be incarcerated in intolerable conditions in Burma’s prisons for their political activities and leadership.