Temple of Preah Vihear (Cambodia v.

Thailand)
See also Request for Interpretation of the Judgment of 15 June 1962 in the Case concerning the Temple of Preah Vihear
(Cambodia v. Thailand) (Cambodia v. Thailand)

OVERVIEW OF THE CASE

Cambodia complained that Thailand had occupied a piece of its territory surrounding the
ruins of the Temple of Preah Vihear, a place of pilgrimage and worship for Cambodians,
and asked the Court to declare that territorial sovereignty over the Temple belonged to it
and that Thailand was under an obligation to withdraw the armed detachment stationed
there since 1954. Thailand filed preliminary objections to the Court’s jurisdiction, which
were rejected in a Judgment given on 26 May 1961. In its Judgment on the merits,
rendered on 15 June 1962, the Court noted that a Franco-Siamese Treaty of 1904
provided that, in the area under consideration, the frontier was to follow the watershed
line, and that a map based on the work of a Mixed Delimitation Commission showed the
Temple on the Cambodian side of the boundary. Thailand asserted various arguments
aimed at showing that the map had no binding character. One of its contentions was that
the map had never been accepted by Thailand or, alternatively, that if Thailand had
accepted it, it had done so only because of a mistaken belief that the frontier indicated
corresponded to the watershed line. The Court found that Thailand had indeed accepted
the map and concluded that the Temple was situated on Cambodian territory. It also held
that Thailand was under an obligation to withdraw any military or police force stationed
there and to restore to Cambodia any objects removed from the ruins since 1954.