UNESCO: The Emergence of the Ideals of Peace and World Heritage

Abstract To what extent does World Heritage promote the ideals of peace advocated by the United Nations and its specialised agencies, particularly UNESCO? This article discusses the emergence of UNESCO’s ideals of peace, mainly in the context of its constitution, questioning these ideals in the face of war disputes involving the Temple of Preah Vihear (Cambodia), included in the World Heritage List in 2008. Such issue is deepened from the analysis of the UNESCO Convention on the World Cultural and Natural Heritage (1972) as an instrument of international relations, eventually triggered in geopolitical disputes that go beyond the field of heritage. This article argues that the manufacture of world heritage can make paradoxical the realisation of the ideals of peace defended by UNESCO within the United Nations system. It is based on relevant bibliography, on primary sources collected at the UNESCO Archives (Paris, France), on digital platforms maintained by this Organisation (UNESDOC Digital Library), and on the content of the litigious process between Cambodia and Thailand, handled by the International Court of Justice, regarding the dispute for sovereignty over the region where the Temple of Preah Vihear is located.