More than half a century ago, in June 1961, the young German engineer Dr. Ackermann, was assigned by the streamlet marked on an obviously erroneous 1907 French map. The real watershed, stipulated as the border line in the Franco-Siamese treaty of 1904, would have left the whole temple complex under Thai sovereignty. The 1962 International Court of Justice (ICJ) verdict in favour of Cambodia was not due to, but rather in spite of, Dr. Ackermann’s crucial findings because the exact watershed was not considered decisive by the majority of judges who insisted on the Thai tacit acceptance of the formerly submitted French map. Professor Ackermann is one of the very few witnesses of the 1962 ICJ trial still alive today. Therefore, his personal recollections represent an extraordinary and unique resource for understanding the still unresolved Preah Vihear temple dispute between Thailand and Cambodia.

Dienstag, den 21. Juni 2016
Zeit: 18 c.t.
Ort: Raum 232
Universität Hamburg
Asien-Afrika Institut
Edmund-Siemers-Allee 1,
Flügel Ost