Case concerning Preah Vihear Temple (Cambodia v.

Thailand), ICJ Reports, 15 June 1962

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.