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| Suwit: ‘Authority to leave rests with me’ (sic!) |
25/06/2011
Bangkok Post
Mr Rao informed Mr Suwit that if Thailand and Cambodia could not reach a conclusion on any draft, the centre would forward its draft to the WHC meeting for consideration.
Mr Suwit was against this as it would put Thailand at risk of losing territory if the draft is approved by the WHC.
Thailand is threatening to resign its membership of Unesco's World Heritage Convention.
It says it will resign from the body if a draft agreement on issues regarding the management plan for Preah Vihear temple, prepared by the Unesco World Heritage Centre, is forwarded for consideration to the World Heritage Committee (WHC).
The draft was suggested by centre director Kishore Rao after both Thai and Cambodian versions failed to win each other country's approval.
However, reading through the draft proposed by the centre, Natural Resources and Environment Minister Suwit Khunkitti, who is leading the Thai delegation at the WHC meeting in Paris, also found that it, like the Phnom Penh version, would put Thailand at risk of losing its territory.
Words in the draft like "restoration" and "repair" of the temple could cause problems in interpretation, he said.
Such wording may be used in the future to refer to repairs from being damaged in attacks by Thai troops.
Thailand wants the centre to remove them and use "protection" and "conservation" instead, according to talks between Mr Suwit's team and Unesco director-general Irina Bokova.
Mr Rao informed Mr Suwit that if Thailand and Cambodia could not reach a conclusion on any draft, the centre would forward its draft to the WHC meeting for consideration.
Mr Suwit was against this as it would put Thailand at risk of losing territory if the draft is approved by the WHC.
So Mr Suwit said he informed Mr Rao that if he insisted on doing so, Thailand had no choice but to withdraw from its membership of the World Heritage Convention.
He said he had told Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva about the situation, and the premier gave him the authority to make a decision.
Both Bangkok and Phnom Penh earlier submitted their own versions of the draft agreement.
However, the two countries still disagreed on many points though they have been allowed to adjust their drafts four times each in the past two days.
Thailand insists the WHC should delay considering the management plan until border demarcation work is done.
Mr Abhisit said yesterday he told Mr Suwit to carefully monitor the situation.
Authority over whether to withdraw will rest with him, Mr Suwit said. The cabinet has empowered him to decide.
Meanwhile, Thai and Cambodian troops are worried about renewed border tensions after Bangkok's protest against Phnom Penh's management plan.
The Thai stance has upset Cambodia which told its soldiers to reinforce bunkers along the overlapping border near Surin's Phanom Dong Rak district.
5 comments:
Thailand is pressuring the UNESCO to make a tough decision by threatening the UNESCO to quit its membership. I don't think this is how the UNESCO should be treated; but what manifesting is Abishit's desperation for the July election. For the UNESCO, it is their decision... whether they are playing the Thailand's pawn or be the strong and independent the institution it has been.
The ulterior motive is clearly for Abhisit political reason, but what for the UNESCO and Cambodia? The UNESCO certainly will lose their creditability and Cambodia will continue to lose more territory to Thailand, its aggressor, and will never find closure with Thailand.
I feel sorry for Mr. Suwit because he is being used as a skape goat. Thailand always use the word "losing territory" but the fact is, if you claimed some thing that did not belong to you the first place, you are not losing anything !!!!!
i don't think it's up to siem to decide, the unesco has a board of directors or experts who make the decision based on law, rules, regulations, etc... i bet siem didn't know that, really!
unesco has law against duress, you know! they don't play favoritism with siem! siem can walk away anytime, but for it to be effective, siem have withdraw their membership with the world body, etc, really! otherwise, it's just a siem wishful thinking because all members fall under unesco's rules and regulations and law, etc, you know!
Thailand thinks that they are above WHC decision. They think that they are rich and more powerful country in the region. The world will step in and don't care the country laws.
Thailand will be a big looser soon or later. They better respect the WHC.
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