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| “The court will deliver an order Monday on Cambodia's request for Thailand to stop military activity” in the area, an observer close to the ICJ told AFP. - Reuters (File Photo) |
Saturday, July 16, 2011
AFP
THE HAGUE: The UN’s highest court is to rule Monday on a request by Cambodia for an immediate Thai troop withdrawal from a disputed border area around an ancient Khmer temple, where clashes have taken place.
International Court of Justice president, Judge Hisashi Owada, is expected to read the court’s order at 10:00 am (0800 GMT) at the Hague-based Peace Palace, where the ICJ is seated. [KI-Media Note: 0800 GMT is 2PM Phnom Penh time]
“The court will deliver an order Monday on Cambodia’s request for Thailand to stop military activity” in the area, an observer close to the ICJ told AFP, adding Owada would be accompanied by a 14-judge bench and two ad hoc judges.
Cambodia in late April launched a bitter legal battle before the ICJ in which it asked for an interpretation of a 1962 ICJ ruling around the 900-year-old Preah Vihear temple.
At the same time, while the court pondered its decision, Cambodia also asked judges to approve provisional measures including an immediate Thai troop withdrawal and a ban on all Thai military activity there.
Although Thailand did not dispute Cambodia’s ownership of the temple, secured by the 1962 ruling, both Phnom Penh and Bangkok claimed the 4.6-square-kilometre (1.8-square-mile) area surrounding the Khmer complex.
The two countries orally argued their cases before judges at the end of May with Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Hor Namhong asking for “an immediate and unconditional withdrawal of all Thai forces from those parts of Cambodian territory situated in the area of the temple of Preah Vihear.”
Phnom Penh also asked that “Thailand refrained from any act or action which could interfere with the rights of Cambodia or aggravate the dispute in the principal proceedings.”
Thailand’s ambassador to the Netherlands, Virachai Plasai, responded by saying his country requested the ICJ to scrap Cambodia’s case from the court’s general list.
Bangkok however did say in June that it would respect the ICJ’s order.
In February the United Nations appealed for a permanent ceasefire after 10 people were killed in fighting near the Preah Vihear temple.
However fresh clashes broke out in April further west, leaving 18 dead and prompting 85,000 civilians to flee.
Cambodia said although there had been clashes in the past, Thai aggression substantially increased after July 2008, when the UN’s cultural body UNESCO listed the temple as a World Heritage site.
But the 11th-century complex has been at the centre of a long legal wrangle between Thailand and Cambodia — which first took its southeastern Asian neighbour to the ICJ in 1959 over the issue.
Established in 1945, the ICJ is the UN’s highest judicial organ and it settles disputes between states. It is the only one of six principal UN organs not located in New York.
4 comments:
i think once the icj give their interpretation and clarification, siem should stop using lame or illegal excuses to disturb cambodia from listing preah vihear temple for world heritage site and siem to respect the international treaty map of 1907 so the borderline can be redemarcated again after years of neglect due to civil unrest, etc in cambodia. siem cannot say the court did not rule on the surrounding areas again after this clarification and interpretation of their 1962 verdict. and from this point on, both countries should only use the official internationally recognized map of the borderlines, no more siem unilateral map is allowed on any talk with cambodia.
It is incumbent upon any Cambodian government to ensure that the Temple's reservoir and staircase be recognised as being part of its structure and body and must therefore not be excluded from Cambodia's ownership of it.
Kouprey
whoever tried to split the temple between cambodia and thailand is bad because all the temple property must belong to cambodia or we will have this on-going conflict forever if it's not given the verdict by icj in according to the international treaty map of 1907. can't say the stairways and entrance belong to thailand while the main temple belong to cambodia, can't be like that or the conflict will go on forever. that is why the the attention now should focus on the official map or the internationally recognized map or legal map, not the siem unilateral map, really! if they fail to pay attention to the right map, then the conflict will be solved peacefully. only the internationally recognized map will help solve this so-called land dispute around thid ancient cambodian temple, you know! it is a big mistake for anyone who want to help solve this conflict by ignoring the legal map of cambodia and thailand. yes, emphasize the map since we all know the court ruled on the temple itself already. the map should be stated clearly and talked about more as well as the temple itself. and only the legal map is accepted, not siem unilateral map for the millionth time, really!
also, the icj should add to it that thailand and vietnam should not be allowed to take advantage of cambodia whatever again! cambodia is not some sort of a no man's land between thailand and vietnam, you know! so stop taking advantage of cambodia like they did during the dark ages, you know!
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