Unesco envoy to meet Kasit, Suwit

25/02/2011
Achara Ashayagachat
Bangkok Post

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) special envoy on Preah Vihear temple Koïchiro Matsuura arrived in Bangkok on Thursday night and will have discussions with Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya and Natural Resources and Environment minister Suvit Khunkitti this afternoon.

Mr Matsuura, a former director-general of Unesco (1999-2009) and a former chairman of the World Heritage Committee (1999), was appointed by director general Irina Bokova to discuss with Thailand and Cambodia measures to safeguard the temple, which was listed as a World Heritage site in 2008.

The three-member Unesco delegation will fly to Phnom Penh on Sunday for talks with Cambodian officials on ways of reducing tension and promoting dialogue around the preservation of the temple.

Mr Matsuura's schedule in Thailand does not include a visit to Si Sa Ket province, which is the usual public entryway to the 11th century temple in normal times. It was not known if they would visit the slightly damaged old Hindu temple.

Unesco director-general Bokova has voiced concern over clashes around the temple in recent weeks, stressing that “the world’s cultural heritage should never be a cause for conflict”.

The Unesco issued a statement early this week saying that the “temple was inscribed on the World Heritage List for its outstanding universal value in keeping with the 1972 World Heritage Convention, which has been ratified by both Cambodia and Thailand”.

In keeping with the convention, states parties undertake to recognize that "such heritage constitutes a world heritage for whose protection it is the duty of the international community as a whole to co-operate".

Asda Jayanam, chair of the Joint Border Committee, flew to Paris last week trying to stop Unesco from visit the disputed site until the current conflict is over.