“Urgent Action” Needed to Protect a World Heritage-Listed Temple in Cambodia

An ancient Cambodian temple has suffered extensive damage from “direct hits” following the 2025 border war between Thailand and Cambodia, a UNESCO-led study found.

The Temple of Preah Vihear, a World Heritage-listed site, remains under serious threat due to military strikes that have left “a profound and detrimental impact on the integrity of the property,” according to the mission report. “Every part of the monument, recent touristic infrastructures and equipment were targeted.”

Considered one of Southeast Asia’s most significant cultural monuments, the temple has been on UNESCO’s World Heritage List since 2008.

To date, much of the temple’s architectural elements were either completely destroyed or damaged by heavy shelling, shrapnel impacts, and severe blasts related to the conflict. The report further identifies a total of 562 damaged areas on the temple from strikes in July and December.

The 11th-century temple complex is still in danger due to last year’s damage, with a fear of possible new incidents in the border region in Preah Vihear province.

The report recommends that Thailand “consider a more active engagement” to address its concerns and to “ensure that emergency work can proceed without any risk for workers, site management and international experts/teams,” along with a call for urgent interventions such as anti-landmine operations and the safeguarding of broken and unstable structures.

It also points out that both Cambodia and Thailand are parties to the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property, wherein “individual criminal liability remains in effect for anyone who has committed an act against the cultural property […] or who has issued an order resulting in its destruction or damage.”

UNESCO urges Thailand and Cambodia to jointly “revive the work of the Joint Boundary Commission,” a previously established agreement that surveys and demarcates the internationally recognized border between the two countries.

These findings follow a string of attacks made by Thailand against Cambodia in July and December 2025. At its peak, the events displaced 640,000 people.