UNESCO’s Inaction on Angkor Wat Evictions
MODEL LETTER FOR UNESCO
To:
Audrey Azoulay, Director General, UNESCO
Santiago Villalpando, Legal Advisor, UNESCO
eie@unesco.org
From:
Member of the Khmer Community
[Your name]
[Email information]
Model Letter:
We, the Khmer community, strongly condemn UNESCO's failure to prevent the forced illegal evictions of over 10,000 families in the Angkor Wat region, as revealed in Amnesty International's report, “Nobody Wants To Leave Their Home.” UNESCO, as the responsible party, for enforcing the section of the World Heritage Site of Angkor agreement that protects long term traditional residents from evictions, must take immediate action to protect these residents from traditional communities within heritage site agreement, urging the prompt restoration of their land. We call on UNESCO to address this issue at the upcoming UN Human Rights Council session dealing with the Universal Periodic Review for Cambodia, and to clear its name against the government of Cambodia’s claim that UNESCO is responsible for the evictions.
Sincerely,
[Your Name]
[City, Country]
MODEL LETTER FOR GOVERNMENTS OF JAPAN AND FRANCE
To:
H.E. Atsushi Ueno, Ambassador
Embassy of Japan to Cambodia
No.194, Moha Vithei Preah Norodom, Sangkat Tonle Bassac, Khan Chamkar Mon, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
japan.embassy@pp.mofa.go.jp
H.E. Jacques Pellet, Ambassador
Embassy of France to Cambodia
Phnom, 1 Preah Monivong Blvd (93), Penh 12201, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
consulat.phnom-penh-amba@diplomatie.gouv.fr
From:
Member of the Khmer Community
[Your name]
[Email information]
Model Letter:
Under the terms of the Angkor Wat Heritage Site Agreement that UNESCO entered into with the government of Cambodia, the governments of Japan and France have been designated as the “supervisory powers” responsible for monitoring and assuring that the terms of the Agreement are being properly carried out and observed. They are the “first line of defense” representing the interests of the international community in matters affecting the Heritage Site Agreement. But they have been silent and inactive in alerting the government of Cambodia that its campaign of what Amnesty International refers to as “mass” evictions of long-term residents from the 113 “protected” traditional villages in the Angkor Wat area are not authorized or permissible under the specific terms of the Agreement. These long-term traditional residents should not, and cannot, be evicted from their long-term residences, under the guise of “protecting” the Angkor Wat site. Protecting the integrity of Angkor Wat is a noble and necessary goal, but not when it is done at the expense of traditional residents, whose right to remain on their land is recognized and protected by specific provisions of the Heritage Site Agreement. Japan and France must act, must speak out against these mass evictions of traditional residents with protected status, and must demand that the Cambodian government stop these unauthorized evictions, and return those previously evicted to their protected land and homes!
Sincerely,
[Your Name]
[City, Country]
MODEL LETTER FOR GOVERNMENT OF CAMBODIA
To:
H.E. Phoeurng Sackona, Minister
Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts
277 Preah Norodom Blvd (41), Phnom Penh 12301, Cambodia
phoeurng.sackona@mcfa.gov.kh
From:
Member of the Khmer Community
[Your name]
[Email information]
Model Letter:
Under the terms of the Heritage Site Agreement” that the government entered into with UNESCO, while there is a general principal expressed that the Angkor Wat site must be protected from commercial development and regular uses unrelated to the site, there also is a specific provision in the Agreement that assures that long-term residents of the “113 traditional villages” encompassed in the site must be protected from eviction. The government of Cambodia has been ignoring this protected status for long-term traditional village residents by, in Amnesty International’s report findings. Carrying out “mass evictions” of more than 100,000 of these protected residents. These long-term traditional residents should not, and cannot, be evicted from their established residences under the guise of "protecting" the Angkor Wat site. The Cambodian government must immediately cease these mass forced evictions and facilitate the return of traditional residents to their protected land and homes. Cambodia has been improperly and inaccurately “blaming” UNESCO for these illegal evictions, by claiming that UNESCO requires their removal from the Heritage Site. The opposite is the case. UNESCO has recognized the protected status of the long-term traditional village residents. It is the government of Cambodia that is violating the Heritage Agreement by conducting these unauthorized evictions on a mass basis.
Sincerely,
[Your Name]
[City, Country]