Sunday, August 01, 2010

Cambodia and Thailand reached an agreement during the 34th Session of the Historical Heritage

30th Jul, 2010
carolina.monteiro
Source: World Heritage Committee


“World Heritage achieved a great victory today. And the largest contribution to it was Brazilian.” The words are from Juca Ferreira, Brazilian Minister of Culture and President of the World Heritage Committee of UNESCO (United Nations Organization for Education, Science and Culture), and were spoken after the result of today’s Plenary Session of the Committee’s 34th Session, during which Cambodia and Thailand were in dispute over the transboundary region where the Temple of Preah Vihear is located.

The two nations were not speaking to each other, and several conflicting claims were coming from both sides. According to Chairman Juca Ferreira, the nations will have a year to negotiate and come to an agreement. “We have managed, for the first time, to allow the two States Parties to get together without any other presence, and this was fundamental for a dialogue to finally be established”, Mr. Ferreira explained. Yesterday, the representatives from both sides shook hands for the first time. “We have dedicated intense efforts to the strengthening of UNESCO and to the fostering of an environment of mutual understanding. The fact that this reunion is taking place in Brazil is very important to us”, he highlighted.

During the announcement of the agreement, at the plenary room of the Session of the Committee, the Thai Delegation thanked Juca Ferreira and the UNESCO Ambassador in Brazil, Carlos Souza Gomes, for understanding how delicate the matter really is. They also expressed their gratitude for the opportunity both countries had to carefully analyze the working document up until the moment at which it was possible for the sides to come to a solution considered agreeable for both. The Cambodian Delegation also thanked all actors involved, and stated that the negotiations were a testimony to the incredibly relevant role played by the World Heritage Committee.

The Temple of Preah Vihear

The property is a Hindu Khmer temple from the 11th century, located in the border between the two countries. In July 7, 2008, it was declared a Cambodian World Cultural Heritage by UNESCO during its Quebec Session. The place has had its Cambodian sovereignty disputed during the last 40 years, and, in October 2008, there was an armed conflict between the two nations over the matter.

SPEECH

“I would like to start congratulating the States Parties Cambodia and Thailand for the willingness displayed by both sides to establish dialog and reach an understanding which resulted in the Draft Decision that will be submitted to the plenary for appreciation.

I am delighted to inform that as Chairman I have received both the Delegations, and that I have always advocated for a solution that could be negotiated by both sides and for which a mutually acceptable solution could be pursued.

The text of the Draft Decision about to be presented is the result of such negotiations, which I had the honor and the privilege to conduct.

I therefore invite all members of this Committee to support the aforementioned text without debate, without appeals and without manifestations after its adoption.
Thank you very much.”

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

the term "hindu temple" given by the bias bangcock post or the nation both serve the siem pad thugs interest only is useless and midguiding to those who know nothing about cambodia or the history of cambodia angkor civilization. some people think it a temple in india and built by india. in fact this so called hindu temple's real name is khmer temple monuments, built by the great khmer god-kings that ruled over the famous khmer angkor civilization which flourished on mainland southeast asia from its founding date 802 a.d up to the early 15th century. of course, one of the major religion of the great khmer god-kings were hinduism along with brahmanism and buddhism as well. so when the biased siem newspapers in bangcock illegally called it "hindu temple", it confuse the hell out of the naive people who knew nothing about cambodia and our rich cultural heritage, etc... so, i suggest siem media stop calling our temples as hindu temple from now on; please call it khmer temples, to keep it simple. hindu temple could be the temples in india, and khmer temple was built by great khmer god-kings, not by india by any imagination, although the religious concept of spread from india to the khmer empire of angkor civilization, ok! please be educated for a change!

Anonymous said...

First Thailand claimed victory over the matter, then Cambodia, and now Unesco declared a "great victory". Bravo!

Anonymous said...

The Temple and the surrounding land are located on the Cambodian side of the border and was final according to the World Court of 1962.

All international press should not be mislead by the Thais that this is a Hindu Temple. It has always been and will be a Khmer Temple of Hindu influence.

Anonymous said...

Since Hun Sen was a Khmer Rouge commander, now a Khmer Rouge leader and had many of his political opponents and journalists assassinated, I wonder if he have any plan to assassinate the Thai Prime Minister (Ahbullshit Vejjajiva)?

Anonymous said...

This is not world heritage source it's Brazil source.