Thailand Cannot Hide the Evidence: ASEAN, the United Nations and the International Community Are Watching the Thai Military’s Acts of Aggression
The evidence on the ground cannot be concealed. Shipping containers, barriers, barbed wire and other actions that alter the situation along the border, together with the approximately 20,000 Cambodian civilians—out of some 650,000 people displaced at the height of the crisis—who still have not been able to return to their homes, are facts that can be seen, documented and independently verified.
More importantly, these acts and their consequences are no longer being witnessed by the Cambodian people alone. ASEAN, foreign diplomatic representatives, the United Nations and the wider international community are closely following the Thai military’s actions, both during the armed conflict and in the period following the ceasefire of 27 December 2025.
The ASEAN Observer Team in Cambodia (AOT-KH), led by the Head of Mission from the Republic of the Philippines, succeeding Malaysia, has continued to visit the affected areas to observe, verify and report on conditions along the Cambodia–Thailand border.
At the Boeung Trakuon border area in Kouk Romiet commune, Thma Puok district, AOT-KH inspected 14 locations where 44 shipping containers had been deployed. Meanwhile, 7,873 Cambodian civilians, representing 1,869 families, including 1,847 children, have still not been able to return to their homes.
In Chouk Chey and Prey Chan villages, the observers inspected another 10 locations containing a total of 72 shipping containers. Behind those containers are 5,386 Cambodian civilians, representing 1,449 families, including 1,569 children, who likewise remain unable to return home.
Taken together, these three areas in Banteay Meanchey province alone involve 24 locations, 116 shipping containers and 13,259 Cambodian civilians—3,318 families, including 3,416 children—who have yet to return to their residences. These figures do not yet include displaced persons, shipping containers and barbed-wire barriers associated with Thai military actions affecting Cambodian sovereignty and territorial integrity in Preah Vihear, Oddar Meanchey and Pursat provinces.
These are not merely statistics. Behind every shipping container is a family waiting anxiously to go home. There are children separated from their homes, schools and communities. The containers are therefore not simply objects placed on the ground. They form part of a physical situation that is obstructing the return of Cambodian civilians.
This runs contrary to Point 4 of the Joint Statement of 27 December 2025, which provides for displaced civilians to return to their homes safely and with dignity, as well as to relevant principles of international law.
Even more importantly, this evidence has not been seen by AOT-KH alone. Foreign diplomatic representatives who have visited the border areas have also witnessed conditions on the ground firsthand. Likewise, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Cambodia, Thomas Andrews, during his mission, observed barriers, shipping containers, wire obstacles and restrictions on access to certain areas. He also raised concerns about civilians who remained unable to return to their homes.
This is a reality that cannot be ignored: there are third-party eyes on the ground. Observers are verifying what is happening. Diplomatic representatives have seen the affected locations firsthand. An independent United Nations expert has witnessed the impact on civilians.
Denial therefore cannot erase the facts, and the creation of a fait accompli cannot create legality.
Shipping containers are not border markers. Barbed wire is not a treaty. Trenches are not boundary maps. Planting a flag is not a title deed to territory. And control established through force cannot create lawful sovereignty.
Cambodia remains firm in defending the internationally recognized Cambodia–Thailand boundary on the basis of the Franco-Siamese treaties and conventions, boundary protocols, maps and the results of delimitation undertaken by the Franco-Siamese boundary commissions, the 2000 Memorandum of Understanding, the 2003 Terms of Reference, and the relevant principles of international law.
Cambodia does not recognize any alteration of the boundary resulting from the use of force or from unilateral attempts to create facts on the ground.
The proper path forward is the Joint Boundary Commission and the law—not fait accompli and military force. Surveying and demarcation must be carried out through mechanisms mutually agreed by both sides. At the same time, Cambodian civilians must be allowed to return to their homes without obstruction, in safety and with dignity, in accordance with the commitments contained in the Joint Statement of the Special GBC Meeting of 27 December 2025.
A ceasefire is not a license to create new facts on the ground. Peace is not merely the absence of gunfire; peace must also mean that civilians can return to their homes.
Today, developments along the Cambodia–Thailand border can no longer take place in darkness. ASEAN is watching. Diplomatic representatives have seen the situation. The United Nations is following it. The international community is paying attention.
Force may create temporary control on the ground, but it cannot create lawful sovereignty. Shipping containers may block the road home, but they cannot block the truth. Barbed wire may obstruct civilians, but it cannot obstruct the eyes of the world.
Thailand cannot hide evidence that is now under the scrutiny of ASEAN, the United Nations, foreign diplomatic representatives and the broader international community. The facts are being recorded, the evidence is being verified, and the impact on Cambodian civilians is being seen firsthand.
Force may create a temporary fait accompli, but it cannot transform occupation into lawful sovereignty. In the end, the facts, the law and the evidence on the ground will speak for themselves.https://www.facebook.com/realNethPheaktra