INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE
Peace Palace, Carnegieplein 2, 2517 KJ The Hague, Netherlands
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Website: www.icj-cij.org
Press Release
Unofficial
No. 2013/33
11 November 2013
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)
The Court finds that the 1962 Judgment decided that Cambodia had sovereignty
over the whole territory of the promontory of Preah Vihear
THE HAGUE, 11 November 2013. The International Court of Justice (ICJ), the principal
judicial organ of the United Nations, today rendered its Judgment in the case concerning the
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).
In its Judgment on Cambodia’s request for interpretation, the Court
(1) Finds, unanimously, that it has jurisdiction under Article 60 of the Statute to entertain the
Request for interpretation of the 1962 Judgment presented by Cambodia, and that this Request is
admissible;
(2) Declares, unanimously, by way of interpretation, that the Judgment of 15 June 1962
decided that Cambodia had sovereignty over the whole territory of the promontory of Preah Vihear,
as defined in paragraph 98 of the present Judgment, and that, in consequence, Thailand was under
an obligation to withdraw from that territory the Thai military or police forces, or other guards or
keepers, that were stationed there.
Historical background
The Temple of Preah Vihear is situated on a promontory of the same name in the eastern part
of the Dangrek range of mountains, “which, in a general way, constitutes the boundary between the
two countries in this region Cambodia to the south and Thailand to the north”. In 1904, France
(of which Cambodia was then a protectorate) and Siam (as Thailand was then called) concluded a
treaty which provided for the establishment of a Mixed Commission for delimiting the frontier
between the two territories.
The final stage of delimitation entailed the preparation of maps, one of which was entitled
“Dangrek Commission of Delimitation between Indo-China and Siam”. On this map, the
frontier passed to the north of Preah Vihear, thus leaving the Temple in Cambodian territory. - 2 -
Following Cambodia’s independence, Thailand occupied the Temple of Preah Vihear in 1954. On
6 October 1959, Cambodia seised the Court by unilateral application. The above-mentioned map
was attached to Cambodia’s Application as Annex I and referred to as the “Annex I map” in the
subsequent proceedings before the Court.
On 15 June 1962, the Court rendered its Judgment in the case concerning the Temple of
Preah Vihear (Cambodia v. Thailand), the operative part of which read as follows:
“The Court,
finds that the Temple of Preah Vihear is situated in territory under the sovereignty of
Cambodia;
finds in consequence, that Thailand is under an obligation to withdraw any military or
police forces, or other guards or keepers, stationed by her at the Temple, or in its
vicinity on Cambodian territory; and
that Thailand is under an obligation to restore to Cambodia any objects of the kind
specified in Cambodia’s fifth Submission which may, since the date of the occupation
of the Temple by Thailand in 1954, have been removed from the Temple or the
Temple area by the Thai authorities.”
On 28 April 2011, Cambodia filed an Application requesting interpretation of the Judgment
rendered on 15 June 1962.
At the close of its Application, Cambodia asked the Court to adjudge and declare that:
“The obligation incumbent upon Thailand to ‘withdraw any military or police
forces, or other guards or keepers, stationed by her at the Temple, or in its vicinity on
Cambodian territory’ (point 2 of the operative clause [of the 1962 Judgment rendered
by the Court in 1962]) is a particular consequence of the general and continuing
obligation to respect the integrity of the territory of Cambodia, that territory having
been delimited in the area of the Temple and its vicinity by the line on the Annex I
map, on which the Judgment of the Court is based.”
Reasoning of the Court
1. Jurisdiction and admissibility
The Court recalls that Cambodia’s Request for interpretation of the 1962 Judgment was
made by reference to Article 60 of the Statute. That Article provides that “[i]n the event of dispute
as to the meaning or scope of [a] judgment, the Court shall construe it upon the request of any
party”. After examining whether the conditions indicated in Article 60 are satisfied, the Court
concludes that there is a dispute between the Parties as to the meaning and scope of the
1962 Judgment relating to three specific aspects thereof. First, there is a dispute over whether the
1962 Judgment did or did not decide with binding force that the line depicted on the Annex I map
constituted the frontier between the Parties in the area of the Temple. Secondly, there is a closely
related dispute concerning the meaning and scope of the phrase “vicinity on Cambodian territory”,
referred to in the second operative paragraph of the 1962 Judgment. Lastly, there is a dispute
regarding the nature, continuing or instantaneous, of Thailand’s obligation to withdraw its
personnel imposed by the second paragraph of the operative part. The Court further notes that the
Request filed by Cambodia is admissible in as far as it is aimed at obtaining interpretation and does
not seek to obtain an answer to questions not decided with binding force, or to achieve a revision of
the Judgment. - 3 -
2. The interpretation of the 1962 Judgment
The Court first indicates that, in determining the meaning and scope of the operative clause
of the original Judgment, it will, in accordance with its practice, have regard to the reasoning of
that Judgment to the extent that it sheds light on the proper interpretation of the operative clause.
Further, the Court states that the written pleadings and the record of the oral proceedings in 1962
are also relevant to the interpretation of the Judgment, as they show what evidence was, or was not,
before the Court and how the issues before it were formulated by each Party. The Court then turns
to the operative part of the 1962 Judgment.
The first operative paragraph. The Court notes that the meaning of this paragraph is clear.
In that paragraph, the Court ruled on Cambodia’s principal claim by finding that the Temple was
situated in territory under the sovereignty of Cambodia. The Court states, however, that it will be
necessary to return to the scope of the first operative paragraph once the Court has examined the
second and third operative paragraphs.
The second operative paragraph. The Court notes that the principal dispute between the
Parties concerns the territorial scope of the second operative paragraph, namely the territorial
extent of the “vicinity” of the Temple of Preah Vihear. In this regard, the Court finds that the
limits of the promontory of Preah Vihear, to the south of the Annex I map line, consist of natural
features. To the east, south and south-west, the promontory drops in a steep escarpment to the
Cambodian plain. To the west and north-west, the land drops in a slope, less steep than the
escarpment but nonetheless pronounced, into the valley which separates Preah Vihear from the
neighbouring hill of Phnom Trap, a valley which itself drops away in the south to the Cambodian
plain. The Court further considers that Phnom Trap lay outside the disputed area and that the
1962 Judgment did not address the question whether it was located in Thai or Cambodian territory.
Accordingly, the Court concludes that the promontory of Preah Vihear ends at the foot of the hill of
Phnom Trap, that is to say, where the ground begins to rise from the valley. In the north, the limit
of the promontory is the Annex I map line, from a point to the north-east of the Temple where that
line abuts the escarpment to a point in the north-west where the ground begins to rise from the
valley, at the foot of the hill of Phnom Trap. The Court considers that the second operative
paragraph of the 1962 Judgment required Thailand to withdraw from the whole of the territory of
the promontory, thus defined, to Thai territory any Thai personnel stationed on the promontory.
Relationship between the second operative paragraph and the rest of the operative part. The
Court considers that the territorial scope of the three operative paragraphs is the same: the finding
in the first paragraph that “the Temple of Preah Vihear is situated in territory under the sovereignty
of Cambodia” must be taken as referring, like the second and third paragraphs, to the whole of the
territory of the promontory of Preah Vihear.
The Court finally notes that, in the present proceedings, Thailand has accepted that it has a
general and continuing legal obligation to respect the integrity of Cambodian territory, which
applies to any disputed territory found by the Court to be under Cambodian sovereignty.
Therefore, the Court does not need to examine the nature, continuing or instantaneous, of the
obligation to withdraw contained in the second operative paragraph.
*
The Court affirms that the Temple of Preah Vihear is a site of religious and cultural
significance for the peoples of the region and is now listed by UNESCO as a world heritage site. In
this respect, the Court recalls that under Article 6 of the World Heritage Convention, to which both
States are parties, Cambodia and Thailand must co-operate between themselves and with the - 4 -
international community in the protection of the site as a world heritage. In addition, each State is
under an obligation not to “take any deliberate measures which might damage directly or
indirectly” such heritage. In the context of these obligations, the Court wishes to emphasize the
importance of ensuring access to the Temple from the Cambodian plain.
*
Composition of the Court
The Court was composed as follows: President Tomka; Vice-President Sepúlveda-Amor;
Judges Owada, Abraham, Keith, Bennouna, Skotnikov, Cançado Trindade, Yusuf, Greenwood,
Xue, Donoghue, Gaja, Sebutinde, Bhandari; Judges ad hoc Guillaume, Cot; Registrar Couvreur.
*
Judges Owada, Bennouna and Gaja append a joint declaration to the Judgment of the Court;
Judge Cançado Trindade appends a separate opinion to the Judgment of the Court;
Judges ad hoc Guillaume and Cot append declarations to the Judgment of the Court.
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A summary of the Judgment appears in the document “Summary No. 2013/2”, to which
summaries of the opinion and declarations are annexed. In addition, this press release, the
summary and the full text of the Judgment can be found on the Court’s website (www.icj-cij.org)
under “Cases”.
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Note: The Court’s press releases do not constitute official documents.
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The International Court of Justice (ICJ) is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations.
It was established by the United Nations Charter in June 1945 and began its activities in
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court of a universal character with general jurisdiction. - 5 -
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Information Department:
Mr. Andrey Poskakukhin, First Secretary of the Court, Head of Department (+31 (0)70 302 2336)
Mr. Boris Heim, Information Officer (+31 (0)70 302 2337)
Ms Joanne Moore, Associate Information Officer (+31 (0)70 302 2394)
Ms Genoveva Madurga, Administrative Assistant (+31 (0)70 302 2396)
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) - The Court finds that the 1962 Judgment decided that Cambodia had sovereignty over the whole territory of the promontory of Preah Vihear