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Preah Vihear

The International Court of Justice ruled 11 November 2013 that part of the disputed patch of land around a UNESCO World Heritage Site on the Thai-Cambodian border belongs to Cambodia. Both countries said they will work together to implement the court decision. The unanimous ruling by the 17 judges of the world court said all of the raised land on which the ancient Khmer Hindu temple sits belongs to Cambodia.

The Preah Vihear (PREE-ah vih-HEE-ah) Temple territorial dispute is a result of conflicting historical claims tied to the colonial legacy in Southeast Asia. Both Cambodia and Thailand claimed a 4.6-kilometer stretch of land near the temple, which Thais call Phra Viharn. Preah Vihear is an ancient Khmer temple site located in northwestern Cambodia, along the Thai border. More than 900 years old, Preah Vihear temple sits on a high escarpment overlooking the Cambodian plains, and thus is much more readily accessible from the Thai side of the border.

The uniqueness of Preah Vihear as a site was due to the fact that that it was largely "untouched" at the time of its listing, and work done since 2006 at the site had "completely changed" the experts' understanding of the site. Dedicated to Shiva, the Temple of Preah Vihear is composed of a series of sanctuaries linked by a system of pavements and staircases over an 800 meter long axis. Dating to the first half of the 11th century AD, its complex history can be traced to the 9th century, when the hermitage was founded. Due to its remote location, the site is particularly well preserved, and is exceptional for the quality of its architecture, which is adapted to the natural environment and the religious function of the temple, as well as for the exceptional quality of its carved stone ornamentation.

Historically, most border disputes that result in armed conflict begin with an assertion of overlapping claims. Cambodia has had control of the territory in question for half a century. Following the July 2008 UNESCO World Heritage Site listing of the Preah Vihear Temple, thousands of Thai and Cambodian soldiers amassed in various areas along the Thai-Cambodian border, particularly near the disputed Preah Vihear temple area. Since then, soldiers have clashed near the temple resulting in deaths on both sides, but the outbreaks of violence have been isolated and lasted only a few hours. While both the Thai and Cambodian forces have pulled back from the disputed territory, the still unresolved territorial claims remain a potential source for civil unrest.

In 1941, Thailand seized Preah Vihear and other areas as part of a wartime alliance with Japan. After returning the territory to France, Preah Vihear again changed hands after the defeat of French colonial forces in 1953. While a newly independent Cambodia sought to stand on its own, Thai troops moved into Preah Vihear in 1954 to replace the departing French soldiers.

In the mid-1950s Thai/Cambodian relations were strained by the question of the Temple Preah Vihear, which the Thai had occupied. In late 1958 Prince Sihanouk visited Bangkok, but subsequently there was a breakdown in negotiations on the Preah Vihear question and demonstrations against the Cambodian Embassy in Bangkok in September 1958. Harassment of the Cambodian frontier police by the Thai police followed, and three days after the recall of the Cambodian Ambassador in Bangkok, the Thai started building up huge concentrations of troops and war matériel at the frontier.

The Cambodians see international law as solidly on their side. In June 1959, Prince Sihanouk felt sufficiently bold to take the issue of the disputed Preah Vihear temple to the World Court -- an action which infuriated the Thais, and which Sihanouk had long hesitated to take. The dispute had its fons et origo in the boundary settlements made in the period 1904-1908 between France, then conducting the foreign relations of Indo-China, and Siam. The application of the Treaty of 13 February 1904 was, in particular, involved. That Treaty established the general character of the frontier the exact boundary of which was to be delimited by a Franco-Siamese Mixed Commission.

The final stage of the delimitation was the preparation of maps. The Siamese Government, which did not dispose of adequate technical means, had requested that French officers should map the frontier region. These maps were completed in the autumn of 1907 by a team of French officers. Thailand, on the other hand, had contended that the map, not being the work of the Mixed Commission, had no binding character; that the frontier indicated on it was not the true watershed line and that the true watershed line would place the Temple in Thailand, that the map had never been accepted by Thailand or, alternatively, that if Thailand had accepted it she had done so only because of a mistaken belief that the frontier indicated corresponded with the watershed line. Thailand had nevertheless continued also to use and indeed to publish maps showing Preah Vihear as lying in Cambodia.

On 15 June 1962, the ICJ ruled in its Temple of Preah Vihear decision on whether the ancient temple belonged to either Cambodia –- a newly established country formerly under French control -– or Thailand, where the temple was allegedly located. There had been maps drawn throughout the late 19th and early 20th centuries depicting Cambodian territory as including the temple. The French-Siam map from the early 1900s had been used in the 1962 International Court of Justice decision awarding Preah Vihear temple to Cambodia. The pagoda in question was clearly in Cambodian territory as per that map. As in the Fisheries Case, the ICJ noted Thailand’s silence with respect to the maps, ruling that the silence indicated Thailand’s acquiescence.

In its Judgment on the merits the Court, by nine votes to three, found that the Temple of Preah Vihear was situated in territory under the sovereignty of Cambodia and, in consequence, that Thailand was under an obligation to withdraw any military or police forces, or other guards or keepers, stationed by her at the Temple, or in its vicinity on Cambodian territory. By seven votes to five, the Court found that Thailand was under an obligation to restore to Cambodia any sculptures, stelae, fragments of monuments, sandstone model and ancient pottery which might, since the date of the occupation of the Temple by Thailand in 1954, have been removed from the Temple or the Temple area by the Thai authorities.

But the matter was not actually settled with the 1962 International Court of Justice decision, and did not reemerge as a result of domestic politics in Thailand. Greater threats changed the behavior of both countries vis-à-vis the Preah Vihear Temple issue, creating the appearance that issue was actually settled. When those threats abated, the Preah Vihear issue resumed an important role in the relationship between Thailand and Cambodia. The 1962 judgment of the International Court of Justice which awarded the temple to Cambodia, referred exclusively to the "Temple of Preah Vihear" but the Thai insist on joint communiques referring to the temple as Khao Praviharn (the Thai name).

After World War II, codified international law recognized that historic monuments, archaeological sites, and other artwork is considered the property of all mankind, rather than that of a single state. This recognition was codified in the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict. Article 9 creates an internationally recognized emblem for the protection of cultural properties. (The use of this emblem creates a recognized immunity from bombardment or air attack. In 1975, Cambodian loyalist troops (of the Lon Nol regime) attempted to use the thousand-year old temple of Preah Vihear as a stronghold against the Khmer Rouge. The loyalists used the sanctioned emblem, but did so under illicit circumstances. Because the Lon Nol troops represented a government which had signed the 1954 Convention, there was little support for continued fighting within the temple's perimeter. Finally, if damage to the ancient site had occurred, both the Khmer Rouge and the Thai government would have had recourse through the 1954 Convention against the loyalist troops.

The purpose of the World Heritage Convention (“Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage”), the 1972 treaty which established the World Heritage List, is to enhance worldwide understanding and appreciation and international cooperation for heritage conservation and to recognize and preserve a relatively small number of exceptional natural and cultural properties around the world that have been formally determined to possess outstanding universal value to humanity. As of April 2009, there were 878 properties inscribed on the World Heritage List in 145 countries. It is not to be expected that World Heritage listing will ever be common. The criteria are exceptionally demanding.

Issues where boundaries, sovereignty, or ownership rights between countries and/or other parties are in dispute are beyond the prerogatives and have proved to be beyond the practical capability of the World Heritage Committee to address. The 2008 inscription of the Temple of Preah Vihear in Cambodia, on the border with Thailand, was so hotly disputed that violence resulted there, and the site will not be effectively administered and preserved without the cooperation of both countries.

Since 2008, nationalistic groups in Thailand had seized on the border issue in an attempt to oust different administrations in Thailand, while Cambodian officials have accused Thailand of attempting to take Cambodian land. The 07 July 2008 inscription of the sacred site of Preah Vihear temple by the World Heritage Committee had at first been supported by the Thai government, then later, because of domestic opposition, Thailand withdrawn their support for inscription. There had then been "a political storm" in Thailand, stirred up by known figures. There was an extraordinary politicization of issues surrounding Cambodia's decision to inscribe Preah Vihear temple as a World Heritage site and the linked question of what the Thai describe as a nearby overlapping claim. This assertion of an overlapping claim, however, was irrelevant legally or morally. Cambodia had never thought, however, that Thai soldiers would decide to take possession of a pagoda within 300 meters of the temple. By July 2008 the situation was tense with more than 1,000 Thai and Cambodian troops in the area. Cambodia further understood that some 40-60 trucks had brought in Thai protesters who were gathered in Thai territory with the intent of protesting at the temple.

On 03 October 2009 at about 3:00 p.m. a Cambodian mobile patrol walking along Phnom Trap (Trap Mountain) west of the Preah Vihear temple complex entered an area previously called "prohibited" by the Thai. The Thai soldiers spotted the Cambodian unit and opened fire on the Cambodian soldiers. Thai soldiers fired upon the Cambodian soldiers with M-79 rockets and M-16 rifles. The Cambodians responded with B-40 rockets and AK-47 machine guns. The firefight lasted about five minutes. Thai unit was comprised of about 30 soldiers, the Cambodian unit about 17. The Eagle Field area had been relatively calm since the last clash of arms on 15 October 2008. Since Thai troops on 30 March 2009 entered into an area hitherto left unoccupied, tensions had been escalating. Both sides lay claim to the areas in which the troops were currently facing off.

Late-morning negotiations between Thai and Cambodian military field commanders broke down and resulted in resumed fighting at about 1:55 p.m. on 03 April 2009. Cambodian troops entered the Eagle Field early on April 3 and were surprised to find armed Thai troops in an area of the disputed territory previously considered to be unoccupied. The incident began about 6:00 a.m. and that the Cambodians asked the Thai to leave. When the Thai troops refused, the Cambodians tried to "force them out," at which point the Thai shot at Cambodian soldiers. Two Thai soldiers were killed in this morning clash. An uneasy cease-fire remained as Cambodians held their positions. Following through on a public vow made by Prime Minister Hun Sen on 22 August 2009, senior military leaders from the Cambodian and Thai armed forces met on 24 August 2009 in Phnom Penh, and declared an end to hostilities on the border. Thai General Songkitti Jaggabatra announced that "the border will not be the cause of any further disputes." Cambodian troops started withdrawing from the Preah Vihear temple area on 26 August 2009. The target was a 50 percent reduction in the Cambodian troop presence.

The establishment of an International Coordinating Committee (ICC) to help guide the planning for the restoration and management of the site was the second UNESCO requirement after the inscription of the site in July of 2008. The original text of the document required that the ICC be convened by February of 2010 and that the committee include no more than seven countries. UNESCO also specified that Thailand should be invited to participate. The formation of the ICC has been delayed due to the ongoing border dispute between Thailand and Cambodia on the area surrounding the Preah Vihear temple. Another ICC which focuses on the management of the Angkor Wat temple complex had been highly successful and Cambodia and UNESCO seek to model the Preah Vihear version on the Angkor Wat example.

In April 2011 exchanges of artillery and small arms fire killed 6 and wounded 19 soldiers along the Thai–Cambodia border. There has been fighting in the disputed area around Preah Vihear temple; at least 20 people were killed and thousands were displaced from their homes as a result. Cambodia had become a “pawn” in Thai politics, which wereheading toward an election, with anti-government protesters hoping to oust the current prime minister, Abhisit Vejjajiva. Cambodians from many walks of life rallied around the perceived threat posed by border clashes with Thailand.

On 28 April 2011, Cambodia filed a request to the international court to clarify its 1962 decision, requesting “urgent” action to protect Preah Vihear temple. Both Cambodia and Thailand had been notified of the case, but the court will not send investigators to the field. Parties provide evidence. The court can only make an interpretation by hearing from both sides. On 18 July 2011 The Court found that both Parties must immediately withdraw their military personnel present in the provisional demilitarized zone defined by it, and refrain from any military presence within that zone and from any armed activity directed at that zone. The Court recalled that orders indicating provisional measures had binding effect and thus created international legal obligations with which both Parties were required to comply.

Diplomatic relations between Cambodia and Thailand, which had warmed since the election of new Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra in July 2011, were bolstered by a positive statement released by RCAF deputy commander Chea Tara. “The conflict in the past was because of [former] Thai prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva’s policy of walking into war, which served his own ambition,” the statement read. “Now there is a new government lead by Yingluck, and trust is being built for good relations.” Seak Socheat, deputy commander of Cambodia’s battlefront region 3, added that about 1,500 troops in Brigade No 5 had pulled back from the area between the Ta Moan and TaKrabey temples, both scenes of fierce fighting in April 2011.