Minister of Culture and Fine Arts Phoeurng Sackona has suggested the establishment of regulations that will prevent the unauthorised copying of World Heritage sites. She shared her proposal during the 25th session of the General Assembly of States Parties to the World Heritage Convention of UNESCO, held in Paris from November 24–25.
Sackona delivered a keynote speech highlighting the past successes of cooperation between the World Heritage Centre and state parties in helping to preserve, manage and sustainably develop World Heritage properties, encompassing both cultural and natural sites.
“At the same time, she also drew the attention of the meeting to the trend of abusive copying, the falsification of the original forms of World Heritage properties, and the lack of operational guidelines within the 1970 Convention and the 1972 Convention in the past,” said a November 25 social media post by the culture ministry.
The ministry noted that Sackona recalled an address she delivered in July 2025, during which she raised the issue of the construction of a monument that copies the layout of Angkor Wat Temple in a neighbouring country.
“This is because such actions lack ethics and can lead to negative impacts, not only on the original state and their Outstanding Universal Values (OUV), but also on the identity of the intangible heritage of the local people,” the post said.
The minister strongly appealed to the World Heritage Centre and the Legal Council of UNESCO to pay urgent attention to this issue by defining clear directions within the framework of the 1970 Convention and the 1972 Convention, and to work together with state parties to prevent negative activities that may arise in the future within the context of globalisation.
