Sir Frank Berman awarded the Royal Order of Cambodia

Sir Frank Berman, Visiting Professor of International Law at Oxford, has been awarded the Grand Cross of the Royal Order of Cambodia. The award was presented by Deputy Prime Minister H.E. Hor Namhong in recognition of his services in representing Cambodia at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague in the case over the Temple of Préah Vihear which the ICJ decided in November.

In a Judgment of 1962, the ICJ had decided that the Temple was Cambodian and ordered Thailand to withdraw from the surrounding area, but the scope of this obligation remained in long-running dispute between the two countries. The ICJ has now, for the first time in its history, given a formal detailed decision as to how one of its past Judgments should be interpreted.

The 900-year-old temple has been a UNESCO World Heritage site since 2008.