Originally published by Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific

The Cambodia Campaign to Ban Landmines and Cluster Munitions has reinforced its call to end the use of landmines after a young Jesuit priest was injured by an explosive device in Myanmar.

Fr Han Zaw Shing SJ, who was ordained only two months ago, was injured on 7 February when his motorbike triggered a landmine in Tanphu, Sagaing region, an area heavily affected by ongoing fighting.

“I am very sorry to hear a Jesuit has been injured. He is now one of us,” said Tun Channareth, a landmine survivor and activist from Cambodia and a key player in the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL). In 1997, 122 countries signed the Mine Ban Treaty (Ottawa Convention), which was later ratified as international law. ICBL, represented by Channareth, and its founding coordinator, Jody Williams, were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in December that year.

“We must bring an end to this suffering in Myanmar,” said Channareth. All countries please join the Treaty, do not use mines, clear up the mess we have laid, help the victims,” he urged.

While Han Zaw Shing is believed to be the first Jesuit priest injured by a landmine, Jesuits have been at the forefront of global efforts to ban such weapons for more than three decades.

Survivors have been central to this movement. So Not, who lost a leg as a child refugee and now works with the Metta Karuna Jesuit Centre on the Cambodian-Thai border, stressed that political will, not resources, remains the biggest obstacle. “No more mines or bombs on our border. Many countries are offering money to clear mines,” he said. “So do it.”

Fr Jub Phokthavi SJ, a Thai national who has served landmine survivors and other vulnerable people in Cambodia and Myanmar for more than 40 years, grieves over the war on the Thai and Cambodian border and wants to see no more cluster bombs or landmines used there or anywhere in the world.

He and Sr Denise Coghlan RSM, two of the pioneers of the Jesuit Mission in Cambodia, along with advocates, warn that landmines and cluster munitions continue to undermine livelihoods, displace families, and sow fear long after wars subside. They urge respect for international law and the use of facilitated dialogue, placing human dignity and the common good above national interest.

Might is not right,” said Sr Coghlan. “May love, not hate, as the determining principle of our actions, result in the disarmed and disarming peace called for by Pope Leo XIV.”