The future
A conjunction of circumstances developing in this period
was to put the Angkorian cultural heritage at unprecedented
risk. With severe poverty, widespread possession of weapons,
and virtually unbridled military rule, as well as continuing
insecurity throughout Cambodia, most particularly in Thai
border regions harboring Cambodian resistance groups, Khmer
objects rapidly became prime targets for an illicit international
art trafficking net-work with its regional base in Thailand.
Over the course of the 1980s and particularly into the 1990s
the illicit traffic became an organized industry within
Cambodia itself.
Nevertheless, the political and economic opening of Cambodia
in 1989 offered new prospects for the rehabilitation of
national infrastructure, and for the adoption of strong
measures for cultural protection. Practice of the Buddhist
re-ligion was increasingly accepted by the State. Western
language study was permitted; foreign investment took hold.
Renewed and diverse scientific in-terest in Angkor was to
progressively develop. And the Department of Archaeology
at the University of Fine Arts in Phnom Penh was reopened
in 1989.
However the social, economic and political changes begun
in the late '80s simultaneously catalyzed great destruction
and loss; cultural, natural and human resources all suffered
deeply. Faced with the open market, and before an unknown
future, many in positions of power sought to consoli-date
personal wealth. In Siem Reap, the illegal art traffic,
as well as logging, proved increasingly lucrative.
Faced with rampant looting in the Archaeological Park,
the Angkor Conservation Office resorted to removing objects
for safekeeping in the compound grounds. Surrounded by barbed
wire, its outer walls lined with sandbags, and under twenty-four
hour armed guard, the Conservation was still unable to prevent
theft. Between 1992 and 1993 the compound was thrice attacked
by armed forces. Numerous invaluable pieces were lost. In
response to this seemingly uncontrollable violence, the
government removed over one hundred remaining pieces to
Phnom Penh. With the aid of UNESCO, security measures were
reinforced in and around the Conservation compound.
It is however important to note that while threats to
the Angkorian heritage increased dramatically during this
transitional period, so did pos-sibilities for protective
action. In November of 1991 H.R.H. Prince Norodom Sihanouk,
in his capacity as President of the pre-election organ known
as the Supreme National Council (SNC), signed the instruments
of accession to the 1972 Convention concerning the Protection
of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage, thereby completing
Cambodia's ratification of the three main existent international
instruments for the protection of cultural pro-perty. Cambodia's
obligations as State Party to these three international
conventions - the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection
of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict, the
1970 Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing
the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Cultural Property,
and the 1972 World Heritage Convention - required, among
other things, the adoption of a wide range of national laws
and regulations. Setting conditions concerning the promulgation
of legislative measures for the protection of cultural heritage,
the provisional inscription in 1992 of the Angkor site on
the World Heritage List reiterated these national obliga-tions.
In the early 1990s, and with international legal assistance,
amend-ments were made in the penal code of the State of
Cambodia to introduce sanctions on the destruction, theft
and illicit traffic of cultural property to enable existent
authorities to immediately address the growing problem.
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