Twenty-four years ago Aung San Suu Kyi left Europe for what was then a military-controlled nation called Burma. She returns Wednesday the icon of Myanmar's democracy movement to a continent eager to hear from her whether the country's recent reforms truly spell the end of its cruel dictatorship.
The trip is seen as a sign of gratitude to those governments and organizations that supported Suu Kyi's peaceful struggle against Myanmar's generals over more than two decades, 15 years of which she spent under house arrest.
In Geneva, her first stop, Suu Kyi will on Thursday address the annual meeting of the U.N.'s International Labor Organization, whose campaign against slavery and child labour in Myanmar drew constant attention to the junta's abusive exploitation of its people.
Suu Kyi then flies to Oslo, where on Friday she will formally receive the Nobel Peace Prize that was awarded to her 21 years earlier while she was detained by the military after leading a pro-democracy party to victory in Myanmar's 1990 elections.
Read more: Europe trip part thanks, part political lecture tour for Myanmar's democracy icon Suu Kyi - Winnipeg Free Press
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