The General Strike Coordination Body (GSCB), a coalition of anti-2021 military coup strike committees and civil society organizations in Myanmar, was honored with the 6th Forum 2000 International Award for Courage and Responsibility alongside prominent pro-democracy activists Tayzar San, Nan Lin and Htet Myat Aung, at the 30th Forum 2000 Conference in Prague, Czech Republic, on Sunday.
“The role of civil resistance in any revolution is vital and powerful because it allows participation from the entire public regardless of their sex, age and location,” Tayzar San, a physician, librarian and pro-democracy activist from Mandalay, said in a video message on Oct. 11.
Tayzar San, 37, organized the first public protest shortly after the military coup on Feb. 1, 2021, and continues to call for leadership and reform within the resistance movement from an undisclosed area inside Myanmar, where he continues to organize actions against the regime that seized power during the coup, along with other activists.
“Tayzar San, Nan Lin, and Htet Myat Aung embody extraordinary civic courage, moral steadfastness, and an unwavering commitment to non-violent resistance in the face of one of the world’s most repressive military regimes,” said Jakub Klepal, the executive director of the Forum 2000 Foundation.
The GSCB unified dozens of groups, including students, trade unionists, and members of the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM)—civil servants who refused to support the military after the coup.
Accepting the award on behalf of the Forum 2000 International Award for Courage and Responsibility recipients were three Myanmar activists living in Prague.
Chan, a founding member of Women Alliance Burma, Stan, a secretary of the Anti-Junta Forces Coordination Committee Mandalay, and Bhone Thit, a former political prisoner and activist with the University Students’ Unions Alumni Force.
Kim Aris, the son of Aung San Suu Kyi, also attended the event holding a portrait of his jailed mother alongside Miloš Vystrčil, the President of the Senate of the Parliament of the Czech Republic, at the 30th Forum 2000 Conference in Prague on Oct. 11.
Aris launched “Free Her,” a renewed campaign demanding the immediate release of his 81-year-old mother—the National League for Democracy (NLD) party leader and State Counsellor—held in detention by the regime in Naypyidaw since Feb. 1, 2021.
Htet Myat Aung was sentenced to 37 years in prison after he was arrested in 2025 alongside seven other pro-democracy activists for organizing protests under the new Election Protection Law, which was passed by the regime in 2025 to criminalize any dissent regarding the planned polls.
Nan Lin, the co-founder of the University Students’ Unions Alumni Force, accepted the 2026 Democracy Award from the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) on behalf of the “pro-democracy community organizers of Burma’s Spring Revolution,” on Sept. 10. He also lives in an undisclosed location inside Myanmar.
The 30th Forum 2000 Conference, from Oct. 11-13, brings together intellectuals, activists, and prominent political figures from around the world for discussions and workshops on strengthening international democratic cooperation.
The Forum 2000 Foundation established the International Award for Courage and Responsibility in 2021 to recognize individuals, groups and institutions demonstrating “exceptional civic courage and commitment to defending democracy, and human rights.”
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