WASHINGTON, Jan 21 (AFP) - Burma's leading democracy advocate Aung San Suu Kyi, confined by authorities to Burma, will receive her first US honorary degree this weekend in Washington, a university said Tuesday.

Washington-based American University said it will present Aung San Suu Kyi with an honorary doctor of laws degree at a graduation ceremony Sunday.

Because the Nobel Laureate is unable to leave Burma, the honorary degree will be accepted on her behalf by her husband, Michael Aris, said university spokesman Todd Sedmak.

Aris also will deliver an address that his wife has written for the commencement excercise of more than 400 graduating students. He is a senior research fellow in Tibetan and Himalayan Studies at St. Antony's College, Oxford University.

Aung San Suu Kyi is being honored "because of her dedication to the principles of democracy and commitment to human rights, which has earned the respect of the citizens of Burma and people around the world," the university said in a statement.

Sedmak said an alumnus had approached the university with the idea about a year ago.

"They really liked it a lot," he said. "She is the type of person that symbolizes the type of person that we want to honor, that we want to encourage" and "the type of students we are trying to develop."

In 1989 Burma's military junta placed Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest, where she was kept in solitary confinement for six years, until July 1995.

A Buddhist, she practices non-violent civil disobedience. She and her party favor a federal state in multi-ethnic Burma, with protections for minority cultures, languages and traditions.

She has received numerous awards for her work, including the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991.

American University plans to host a national conference on the Burma situation in early February. Students from across the country are expected to attend, Sedmak said.