via The Washington Post, 25 July 2024: UNESCO has recommended that Laos invite a monitoring mission to Luang Prabang due to concerns over a nearby dam’s impact on the heritage site. Similarly, Cambodia is urged to welcome experts to Angkor amid allegations of human rights abuses during relocations. Both countries show willingness to cooperate with UNESCO to preserve these significant cultural sites.
While the World Heritage Committee welcomed Laos’ efforts to improve data collection on the possible effect of the dam and mitigate any harm to the UNESCO site, it recommended the country invite a new team of experts to assess the state of conservation first-hand.
Laos seemed agreeable to the idea, with its delegate telling the group at its annual meeting in New Delhi that authorities were prepared to work “hand in hand” with UNESCO to preserve the site.
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UNESCO also has concerns about the protection of historic buildings, unrelated to the dam’s construction.
In a similar move, the Committee recommended that Cambodia invite a new team of experts to monitor the situation at the Angkor UNESCO site, one of the largest archaeological sites in the world, where authorities’ efforts to relocate people has drawn allegations of human rights abuses from Amnesty International and others.
The decision, which UNESCO said was adopted Wednesday without discussion, was criticized as too little by Save Cambodia, a human rights group based in the United States.
