Former leader of Myanmar Aung San Suu Kyi could lose her title of Freedom of the City of Brighton and Hove under a proposal from councillors.

The city council will consider whether to strip the honour from the diplomat and Nobel Peace Prize winner over the treatment of the Muslim Rohingya community while she was in power.

Aung San Suu Kyi, who was guest director of the Brighton Festival in 2011, was awarded the prestigious title in the same year for her record on human rights.

The council at the time said it recognised her efforts “to support the people of Burma and the many people throughout the world striving to attain democracy, human rights and ethnic conciliation by peaceful means”.

However, after becoming the leader of Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, in 2016, she was criticised for her silence about the persecution of the Muslim Rohingya people by the country’s military.

The armed forces were accused of committing ethnic cleansing and genocide by the UN, which found evidence of extrajudicial killings, arson of Rohingya villages and schools, summary executions and the murder of children.

A report, set to be presented to councillors later this week, claims that Aung San Suu Kyi “did not take any steps or advocate the protection of the minority Muslim Rohingya community and some say she supported the actions of the military in carrying out the atrocities”.

Other cities, including Oxford, Edinburgh and Dublin have revoked similar awards from the former leader in recent years.

The proposal is not the first time councillors have discussed stripping the award from Aung San Suu Kyi, having considered a motion back in 2018. However, the proposal failed to receive the two-thirds majority required to pass the resolution to remove the award.

A council spokesman said: “Aung San Suu Kyi was admitted as an honourary freewoman of the city at a special council meeting on May 19, 2011, in recognition of her endeavours to bring democracy to Myanmar and ensure freedom for all.

“However, after coming to power, she enabled the ongoing systematic denial and failure to address the long-standing targeted abuse against the Muslim Rohingya community in her country.

“During her time as state counsellor, she also appeared at the International Court of Justice in The Hague to defend the army’s persecution of this Muslim minority.

“As a result, Suu Kyi was stripped of most of her honourary titles, degrees and awards, retaining her Noble Peace Prize, which has traditionally never been revoked.

“We now deem it necessary to revisit this issue, as we believe the actions of Aung San Suu Kyi fundamentally contradict the values of our city and our ongoing commitment to equality and human rights.”

Councillors will discuss the proposal at a special council meeting on Thursday.