Aung San Suu Kyi left her family and returned home to care for her sick mother in 1988. During this time, she became active in bringing democracy to the Burmese people. Her mother soon passed away and shortly after, she was placed under house arrest for her role in the politics of Burma. She was unable to see her husband and children for most of the next twenty-one years.

She was under house arrest for the majority of that time. Aung San Suu Kyi’s husband died of cancer during her time under house arrest. She knew she could not leave, or she may not be allowed back in the country to continue helping the Burmese people. Suu Kyi’s most recent arrest came in 2009. She was finally freed in November of 2010.

In 1991, Aung San Suu Kyi won the Nobel Prize. She was awarded the Nobel Prize for her continuous fight for human rights. Suu Kyi did not keep the prize money for herself. She used the money she won from the Nobel Prize to help the Burmese people. In 2009, she won the Amnesty International Ambassador of Conscience Award. Amnesty International had been familiar with the case of Suu Kyi for many years. The Amnesty International Ambassador of Conscience Award is Amnesty International’s most honorable award. It honors those who have gone above and beyond to protect the rights of others.

Some voices state that Islam would not fit into an individualistic and secular lifestyle in the Western world. On the other hand, some Arab politicians revealed the development in Switzerland as a growing islamophobia; a neologism which has become common usage after the attacks back in September 11, 2001. Anyway, the Islam world was shocked after the referendum: the first protests and demonstrations started on Monday afternoon in Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan.

The Swiss decision is also seen by Pakistani politicians as discrimination of Muslims and even as violation of human rights. According to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, every woman, man, youth and child has the human right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion. Hence, the United Nations plan to examine the legitimacy of the building ban.

Now Switzerland has to face the fury of millions of Muslims, after Denmark had to bear the consequences after Mohammed-caricatures back in 2006. The Swiss referendum is another reason for harsh discussions and arguments between the Western and the Islam world, and might have a bad impact on the dialogue between Europe and some Muslim countries.

The minaret ban shows that even in apparently very open-minded European societies, there are still a lot of prejudices, fears and latent xenophobia. But on the other side, it is also a sign of  lacking integration, which also means that people have to show the will to integrate and assimilate into society. All participants have to do something in spite of themselves and have to make efforts to overcome cultural barriers.