Thai nationalists demand UNESCO delist controversial temple

June 22, 2011
Source: Monsters and Critics

Bangkok - Thai protesters massed outside the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization's Bangkok office Wednesday to demand that a Cambodian temple be removed from the world heritage list.

About 1,000 members of the ultra-nationalist People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) gathered to demand UNESCO delist the Preah Vihear temple, which lies on Cambodian soil but is claimed by Thailand, and 'end the violation of sovereignty of Thai territory.'

UNESCO's World Heritage Committee is currently meeting in Paris to decide on new sites and discuss progress on formerly designated ones.

UNESCO declared Preah Vihear a World Heritage site in 2008 over Thai objections. Since then Thai and Cambodian troops have clashed on several occasions along the border, most recently in April when 16 people, mostly soldiers, died.

The 11th-century Hindu temple, perched on a cliff that defines the Thai-Cambodian border, has been a bone of contention between the two countries for six decades.

In 1962, the International Court of Justice ruled that the temple was on Cambodia soil, but it stopped short of ruling on where the border lies in the disputed area.

While Thailand has accepted the 1962 ruling, it has laid claim to a 4.6 square kilometre plot of land adjacent to the temple, which is also claimed by Cambodia.

The Thai government has lobbied UNESCO to delay a decision this week on whether to approve Cambodia's Preah Vihear management plan, which includes the disputed nearby land.

The plan 'wrongfully violates the territory and sovereignty of Thailand,' PAD leader Chamlong Srimuang said in a letter passed to the UNESCO office. 'Thais will regard the UNESCO and the World Heritage Committee as ... the country's enemy.'

The conservative, pro-royalist movement was behind anti-government street demonstrations in 2008 that led to the seizure of Government House and the closure of Bangkok's two airports.

They have been staging a demonstration outside Government House, where the prime minister and cabinet ministers keep their offices, since January, to protest Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva's failure to resolve the Preah Vihear dispute.