Cambodia’s Tun Channareth renews fight for mine-free world in Geneva

Cambodian landmine survivor and activist Tun Channareth returned to Geneva to defend the Ottawa Convention, as the global treaty he helped champion faces withdrawal threats from several Eastern European nations. “Do you like peace, yes or no?” In the austere Geneva International Conference Centre, Tun Channareth's call rang out like a gunshot. “Yes!” replied the dozens of diplomats present. Long applause followed. “It wasn't part of my speech,” he confides, smiling a few hours later. “I improvised! But it's easy to say you want peace. What we need is action,” he adds, clearly accustomed to empty diplomatic promises. At 65, this tireless Cambodian activist has spent over three decades fighting against anti-personnel mines – horrific weapons that make no distinction between a soldier, whether friend or foe, and a child. Channareth has first-hand knowledge of their horror. On December 18, 1982, at the age of 22, he lost both his legs when he stepped on a Russian-made mine on the ...