Temple of Preah Vihear. Photo: Jean-Jacques Dupuy
15 April 2013 – The United Nations highest court today began new
hearings on a spectacularly situated 900-year-old Hindu temple that has
long been a bone of contention between Cambodia and Thailand and has in
recent years led to deadly clashes between the two South-East Asian
neighbours.
Nearly two years ago, the Hague-based International Court of Justice (ICJ)
ordered the two countries to withdraw their military personnel from
around the Preah Vihear temple complex located in Cambodia, after
renewed fatal skirmishes forced thousands of people to flee.
The site is inscribed on the World Heritage List which is drawn up by the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
In inscribing it, UNESCO called the temple “an outstanding masterpiece
of Khmer architecture, in terms of plan, decoration and relationship to
the spectacular landscape environment” atop a 1,772-foot cliff.
The hearings stem from Cambodia’s request for the ICJ to interpret the
judgment it rendered in 1962, which found that the temple was “situated
in territory under the sovereignty of Cambodia” and that Thailand was
under an obligation to “withdraw any military or police forces ...
stationed by her at the temple, or in its vicinity on Cambodian
territory.”
In its request filed in April 2011, Cambodia argues that while Thailand
recognizes Cambodia’s sovereignty over the Temple itself, it does not
appear to recognize the sovereignty of Cambodia over the vicinity of the
temple.
In July 2011, the Court ordered both sides to withdraw their military
personnel as part of provisional measures it said were urgently
necessary because the potential risk of damage and renewed clashes were
sufficiently serious.
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