ABSTRACT
In 2011, there was an armed conflict which caused by a border dispute between Cambodia and Thailand. The armed conflict resulted in massive destruction of Preah Vihear temple that located in the border’s area between Cambodia and Thailand. Preah Vihear Temple itself has been crowned as the world heritage by UNESCO in 2008. This paper aims to analyze the status of cultural heritage in armed conflict and how the legal protection for the cultural heritage in case of armed conflict. Using statute and case approaches, this paper describes the rules in international law especially international humanitarian law related to cultural preservation and takes the case of the destruction of Preah Vihear temple as the core of the study. In international humanitarian law, cultural heritage objects are protected objects, meaning they should not be targeted by the military at the time of the armed conflict. In the event of an armed conflict, parties shall also take measures to protect cultural heritage objects within their territories and cultural heritage objects in their enemy’s territory.
