Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has used her first speech in parliament to call for laws protecting the rights of the country's impoverished ethnic minorities.

Ms Suu Kyi rose from her seat toward the back of Burma's parliament today to call for an end to discrimination against ethnic minorities as part of the "emergence of a genuine democratic country".

She has long championed the rights of ethnic minorities, including the Shan, Karen and Kachin.

She was probably not referring to Muslim Rohingyas - recently embroiled in ethnic violence that drew a strong government crackdown - because most Burmese people consider them Bangladeshi exiles.

During decades of military rule, cultures of Burma's ethnic minorities were suppressed.

Ms Suu Kyi won her first seat in parliament in historic April by-elections.