Myanmar’s newly-released democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi said yesterday that genuine democratic institutions in the country could not exist without respect for human rights.

“Human rights are the very stuff of everyday living. Without freedom and security our lives cannot be meaningful,” she said in a video message delivered at the United Nations in Geneva to mark World Human Rights Day.

“I like to think that those of us who are working for democracy in Burma are defenders of human rights because we believe that without human rights there can be no genuine democratic institutions,” she added.

Her comments came after the first election in two decades last month that was criticised by human rights activists and Western governments.