Position: Thematic Research Coordinator for Non-State Armed Groups

Links: Mines Action Canada

Expertise Areas: Civil Society, Human Rights, Humanitarian Relief, Peacekeeping, Refugees, Security

Contact:  yeshua@minesactioncanada.org

Bio:

Yeshua is a political activist, researcher, author and lecturer on nonviolence in human society. Since refusing military conscription in 1972 he has sought to promote pragmatic nonviolent methods to address human problems.

Since May 2005 he has served as the International Campaign to Ban Landmines [ICBL] and Cluster Munition Coalitions Global Thematic Editor and movement focal point for non-state armed groups, and a Regional Research Coordinator on Mine Ban policy and Cluster Munition Ban policies for Asia, the Pacific, Middle-east and North African regions.

Outside his work with the ICBL-CMC, he is a board member of the Small Arms Survey, a project of the Institute for Higher Studies in Geneva; and a consultant to the International Peace Bureau in Geneva, especially on their Disarmament for Development campaign. He is also an international council member of the non-governmental organization Nonviolence International. He sits on the grant making board of the International Nonviolence Trainers Fund of the AJ Muste Foundation. He was appointed as an adviser to the Royal Thai Government’s Mine Action Center in 1999, the body of the Thai government which fulfills its obligations under the Mine Ban Treaty.

He lived and worked in Thailand for 20 years, during which he served for 15 years as the Southeast Asia representative for Nonviolence International, but is now resident in British Columbia.

Yeshua focuses on the importance of helping people think strategically in order to apply nonviolent methods to resolve their problems. He has co-authored two reports analyzing widely used methods of nonviolent struggle (published by Nonviolence International). He is recognized as a global expert in the field of Nonviolent Third Party Intervention, and edited a book on the topic which was published by the University of Hawai’I Press. He has designed programs to introduce nonviolence methodology to groups as diverse as high school students to representatives of the United Nations Secretary Generals office.

Publications:

Yeshua Moser Puangsuwan in the News: