Mizzima-Sept 1
The Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation officially announced 31 August that Bo Kyi, co-founder and joint secretary of the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), has been honored with the 2026 Ramon Magsaysay Award, widely regarded as Asia’s Nobel Prize. Bo Kyi told Mizzima that this award is a recognition of the people of Myanmar who are courageously resisting injustice, as well as the political prisoners who remain resilient inside prisons. “Through this award, we will be able to send more messages to the ASEAN community and international governments about the ongoing situation inside Myanmar, and the critical importance of the unconditional release of all political prisoners, including Aung San Suu Kyi,” he said. The Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation stated that Bo Kyi was selected for the award because of his work in systematically documenting and exposing the conditions and human rights violations faced by political prisoners behind prison walls, and for raising awareness to ensure they are not forgotten by the outside world. Bo Kyi was imprisoned for over seven years for his participation in the 1988 pro-democracy uprising. He subsequently co-founded AAPP in 2000 and has spent more than two decades working for the release of political prisoners and providing support to their families. Alongside Bo Kyi, the co-recipients of this year’s 68th Magsaysay Award are Tommy Koh, a diplomat and international legal expert from Singapore, and Runa Khan, a social entrepreneur from Bangladesh. The presentation ceremony will be held on 15 November at the Metropolitan Theatre in Manila, Philippines. Previous Myanmar recipients of this prestigious award include journalist Law Yone (1958), Dr. Cynthia Maung (2002), human rights activist Ka Hsaw Wa (2009), Lahpai Seng Raw (2013), Kyaw Thu (2015), and Swe Win, editor-in-chief of Myanmar Now (2019). Read more at:
