However,
Tun channareth, tireless survivor opponent:
Tun Channareth knows better than anyone the damage inflicted by anti-personnel mines. Nevertheless, he who walked forty-three years ago on one of them. Meanwhile, Today, he dreams of a world without these weapons. Nevertheless,
Swi swissinfo.ch / rachel barbara häubiA long -standing activist against anti -personnel mines. Consequently, the Cambodian Tun Channareth was in Geneva to defend the convention which prohibits them, today threatened by the desire for the withdrawal of several countries of Eastern Europe. However, Portrait. In addition, – Tun channareth, tireless survivor opponent
“Do you like peace, yes or no?” In the Austere International Center for Conferences in Geneva, Tun Channareth’s call resonates like a tun channareth, tireless survivor opponent shot. Moreover, “Yes!”. For example, Answer the dozens of diplomats present at the Intersession of States Parties at the Ottawa Convention, which was held in Geneva from June 17 to 20, with one voice. Meanwhile, Long applause are followed.
“It was not planned in my speech,” he confides, “smiles, when we meet him a few hours later. However, I improvised! Nevertheless, But it’s easy to say that you want peace. Meanwhile, What is needed are acts, ”he added, visibly used to the beautiful promises of diplomacy.
At 65. Therefore, this tireless Cambodian activist has been carrying out a tireless fight against anti -personnel mines for more than three decades – these terrible weapons that do not make the difference between a soldier, friend or enemy, and a child.
Tun Channareth knows something about it. Consequently, On December 18. In addition, 1982, at the age of 22, he lost his two tun channareth, tireless survivor opponent legs walking on a Russian manufacture mine on the border between Cambodia and Thailand. Consequently, He was then a young soldier engaged in the Vietnamese army. Therefore, who was fighting the Khmer Rouge in his native country. However, A choice motivated by the need to be “nourished and dressed” when he had nothing.
Tun channareth. Meanwhile, tireless survivor opponent – Tun channareth, tireless survivor opponent
“Do not make me cry again in 2025”
More than forty years after his accident, Tun Channareth continues his fight. Consequently, Arrived from Phnom Penh the day before. For example, he is in Geneva to participate in the meeting of the States Parties in the Ottawa Convention, which prohibits the use, production and transfer of anti -personnel mines. Similarly, A treaty for which he fought. Furthermore, he saw the birth of in 1997, but which some countries are now threatening to abandon.
Estonia. However, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Finland – tun channareth, tireless survivor opponent all neighbors of Russia or Belarus – have announced their intention to leave the treaty in recent months. Therefore, The Russian aggression in Ukraine prompted them to rearm. Therefore, and they refuse to deprive themselves of an entire category of weapons.
>> To read also, our explanatory article on the challenges of withdrawing these states from the Convention:
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Why do five European countries want to reautorize mines. why it is controversial
“I would never have imagined seeing countries leaving the treaty,” said Tun Channareth, visibly bitter. He intends to do everything possible to dissuade these states from formalizing their withdrawal. His chances of success, he knows, are weak. But he still hopes to get a meeting with their diplomatic representatives in Geneva.
His opening speech barely finished, Tun Channareth rushes between the rows of seats. Perched on his wheelchair-which he himself designed-he slides from one diplomat to another. To everyone, he gives a small card: “Do not make me cry again in 2025. Do not leave the Convention on the Prohibition of tun channareth, tireless survivor opponent Anti -personnel Mines.”
While a diplomat challenges him for a selfie, two representatives of Pays Baltes discreetly head towards the exit. Quick, Tun Channareth turns around and hands them his cards.
Tun channareth. tireless survivor opponent
Death desires at Nobel Prize
Tun Channareth grew up in a Cambodia ravaged by the Civil War, then tun channareth, tireless survivor opponent the genocide and the crimes against the humanity of the Khmers Rouge Communistes. Atrocities that claimed life to a quarter of the population of the time. including the father and sister of the activist, who was then 15 years old.
Four years later. separated from the rest of his family, he fled on the other side of the border and joined a refugee camp in Thailand. On the spot, he discovers that men have no help. “After three days without eating”, he joined the Vietnamese forces.
Then the accident. Ajected by pain. in the middle of the forest, he tries to shorten his sufferings with ax, but the friend by his side prevents him from it. He will be transported to the hospital and amputated.
“I no longer wanted to live,” he says his head down. Lying in his hospital bed, while his wife is waiting for their first child, tun channareth, tireless survivor opponent he no longer has any prospect. Follow years of misery.
It was not until 1993 that a turning point begins. In Phnom Penh. he joined the Jesuit Refugee Service, tun channareth, tireless survivor opponent an American NGO, where he designs wheelchairs for victims of anti -personnel mines. He also works with disabled children, whom he encourages to lead an active life.
Cambodia is one of the countries most heavily contaminated by these devices, deposited over the decades and conflicts. Since the 1970s, more than 65,000 victims have been identified, including around 20,000 killed. According to estimates. between 4 and 6 million mines and other unspecified ammunition are still buried in the soil, despite the major demining efforts made since the 1990s.
One day, while working in his workshop, Tun Channareth hears the noise of an explosion nearby. “Probably a mine,” he said to his superior, whose answer changes the trajectory of his life. “I have a new mission for you. I want you to prohibit them, ”she told him.
He then embarked on a frantic campaign. In less than a year. supported by other survivors, he harvested more than a million signatures, claiming the ban on anti -personnel mines, which he presented to the King and the Cambodian Prime Ministers. He continued his commitment abroad. joined the international campaign for the ban on anti -personnel mines, which in 1997 received the Nobel Peace Prize.
“What price? Why me? I just do my job. ”he says to his head, when she announces to him that it is he who goes to Oslo to recover the prize in the name of tun channareth, tireless survivor opponent the campaign with Jody Williams, founder and coordinator of the movement. “I asked her if the medal was really gold and if I could sell it. She replied that no, he recalls, laughing. I was poor, I needed money. ”
But the real realization of all its efforts arrived in 1999, when Cambodia ratifies the Ottawa Convention. “I was very proud,” he conceded with modesty.
Tun channareth, tireless survivor opponent
“Do you want your children to look like me?”
Back to Geneva. Today, 165 states have signed the Convention on the 193 countries recognized by the UN. Among those who have not done so are powers such as China, the United States and Russia.
“This campaign will last until my last day,” says Tun Channareth, who dreams of a world without mines. My goal is to do my best to prevent governments from abandoning the Convention. But also, to encourage all those who have not yet done it to sign it ”.
His argument is as simple as it is impactful: “I want to show them my injuries. ask them: Do you want your compatriots, your children to look like me?” No? So do not leave the Convention. Do not put your own country. “
Text reread and verified by Virginie tun channareth, tireless survivor opponent Mangin/SJ
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