Unesco listed temple because its nomination abided by the rules

From April on, Thailand's attitude towards Cambodia's bid to register the Preah Vihear Temple as a World Heritage site changed. Led by Noppadon Pattama, Thai authorities stopped protesting and asking for a joint nomination. Instead, they agreed to cooperate with Cambodia in supporting its nomination of Preah Vihear as a World Heritage site. Since then, Thailand has watched only that Cambodia's bid does not interfere with an area to which Thailand claims ownership.

On May 6, the Cabinet passed a resolution to remove Virachai Plasai as the director-general of the Department of Treaties and Legal Affairs. Noppadon reasoned that, "Every horse in the ministry is efficient. But we want the horse to run in its assigned lane."

On the same day, the Foreign Ministry's permanent secretary Veerasak Futrakul flew to meet with Cambodian deputy prime minister Sok An. They then jointly held a press confidence saying that Thailand and Cambodia would abide by the World Heritage Committee's resolution at its 31st meeting.

The resolution was that Cambodia will nominate Preah Vihear as a World Heritage site at the 32nd meeting of the World Heritage Committee. At the press conference, Cambodia firmly asserted that the registration of Preah Vihear as a World Heritage site would not affect the Thai - Cambodian negotiations on demarcation.

The negotiations were being handled by the General Border Commission. Cambodia insists that the areas and map submitted to Unesco do not constitute demarcation lines.

It is noticeable that since the foreign minister changed his stance to support Cambodia's bid to nominate Preah Vihear, civil servants have done their best to protect Thailand's territory.

It should be noted that the nomination of the "Temple of Preah Vihear" was then mentioned in writing for the first time. Before this, documents talked about the nomination of the "Sacred Site of Preah Vihear Temple".

However, Thai officials still did not notice the difference because they were preoccupied with territorial matters. At that time, Thai officials still believed Cambodia would use the original map in its nomination file.

On May 22, Noppadon held a meeting with Sok An and high-level officials from Unesco. During the meeting, Cambodia unveiled a new map that reduced the size of the area to be nominated as a new World Heritage site. Cambodia tried to assure Thailand that the World Heritage status granted to Preah Vihear Temple would not affect the demarcation between the two countries.

By nominating only the Preah Vihear Temple as a new World Heritage site, Cambodia had the right to file the nomination alone.

If Cambodia had stuck to the nomination of the "Sacred Site of Preah Vihear", it would not have been able to file the nomination unilaterally, as proven by the 31st meeting of the World Heritage Committee.

The word "site" covers components and structures on the Thai side. The new changes made by Cambodia have allowed it to win support from Thai delegates for its nomination.

Following the meeting, a joint communique signed by both countries was sent to the World Heritage Committee for consideration of Cambodia's nomination of Preah Vihear Temple as a World Heritage site. This joint communique has effectively overruled all Thai protests over Preah Vihear, and ends any attempt by Thailand to seek a joint nomination. It has thwarted Thailand's previous efforts to point out that certain information had been fabricated in the nomination file.

Had those efforts and protests continued, it would have meant that Thailand had not given active support to Cambodia's bid to nominate Preah Vihear Temple for World Heritage status. The active support is a condition set by the World Heritage Committee at its 31st meeting.

Later, there were protests and objections against the joint communique signed by Noppadon on May 22 and a statement dated June 18. Finally, the Administrative Court issued an injunction barring the use of the documents. As a result, the World Heritage Committee did not consider the documents when reviewing the nomination file submitted by Cambodia.

How can the World Heritage Committee approve the nomination without the documents that show Thailand's active support?

The answer is that Cambodia's nomination file asks for World Heritage status for structures on the Cambodian side only.

According to the map included, no structure encroaches on Thai soil or the overlapping area claimed by both countries. Furthermore, the ICOMOS assessment (which distorts facts) states that the Preah Vihear Temple has no association with the ancient items and adjoining northern areas, which are on Thai soil, and has no important connection with anything in Thailand.

As a result, the World Heritage Committee approved the nomination by Cambodia because the approval does not break any regulations.