(17/04/2013)
Thailand has prepared solid and convincing evidence in response to
Cambodia’s arguments in the case concerning the Temple of Phra Viharn
(Preah Vihear).The legal team from Thailand, led by the Thai Ambassador to The Hague, Mr. Virachai Plasai, is scheduled to give the first round of oral arguments to the International Court of Justice on 17 April 2013, from 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. and between 8:00 p.m. and 9.30 p.m. (Thai local time).
Cambodia on 15 April 2013 presented its counter-arguments to Thailand’s Further Written Explanations submitted to the Court in 2012. It argued that, in requesting the Court to interpret the 1962 judgment concerning the temple, Cambodia had no intention of appealing or altering the judgment, but only asked the Court to define the terms “territory under the sovereignty of Cambodia” and the temple’s “vicinity” contained therein.
Cambodia attempted to show that Cambodia and Thailand interpret the judgment differently and that the “Annex I Map” is inseparable from the operative parts of the judgment, therefore satisfying the conditions for interpretation, and such interpretation would not be possible without referring to the map. It also argued that the Court had already recognized that the lines on the map constitute the frontier between Cambodia and Thailand.
In his opening statement, Mr. Hor Namhong, Cambodia’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation, as the country’s Agent, argued that different interpretations of the scope and meaning of the 1962 judgment and Thailand’s failure to fulfill the obligations contained therein led to the armed aggression along the Thai-Cambodian border during the previous Thai government. This compelled Cambodia to request the Court to elucidate the 1962 judgment. Cambodia’s foreign legal counsels and experts then took turns presenting counter-arguments to the reasoning and evidence in Thailand’s Written Explanations submitted to the Court in 2012.
Speaking at a press briefing, Thailand's Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Mr. Surapong Tovichakchaikul, said that Cambodia’s oral arguments followed directly from its written submissions to the Court, and that Thailand is ready to present its counter-arguments, especially on the implementation of the judgment.
Meanwhile, the Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister, Mr. Phongthep Thepkanjana, said that Cambodia was trying to convince the Court that Thailand’s implementation of the judgment was based on its unilateral understanding of the judgment, in particular the putting up of a barbed-wire fence, following the line set out in the Thai Cabinet’s resolution of 10 July 1962, which Cambodia found unacceptable.
The Deputy Director-General of the Department of Treaties and Legal Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Krairawee Sirikul, said that Cambodia has no right to appeal the earlier Court ruling and that Thailand has completely abided by the Court’s verdict. He added that the Court ruling in 1962 stated that the Temple of Phra Viharn is on Cambodian soil, without mentioning the border demarcation.
Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has urged the Thai people to monitor the oral hearings at the Court with a calm attitude, saying that the legal team from Thailand would work with its full ability to defend the case.
The hearings will be broadcast live on NBT (Television of Thailand Channel 11), Radio Thailand (FM 92.5 and AM 891), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Radio Saranrom (AM 1575), the website www.phraviharn.org, the International Court of Justice’s website www.icj-cij.org/homepage, and the United Nations Webcast: webtv.un.org.
ไม่มีความคิดเห็น:
แสดงความคิดเห็น
หมายเหตุ: มีเพียงสมาชิกของบล็อกนี้เท่านั้นที่สามารถแสดงความคิดเห็น