Ex-Cambodian SNC Member Rebuts Thai FM’s Claim on 1980s Refugee Camps
Ex-Cambodian SNC Member Rebuts Thai FM’s Claim on 1980s Refugee Camps
PHNOM PENH, Feb 25, 2026 — A former senior member of Cambodia’s Supreme National Council (SNC) has rejected remarks made by Thailand’s Foreign Minister Sihasak Phuangketkeow at the United Nations Human Rights Council, disputing Bangkok’s claim that it had hosted approximately 400,000 Cambodian refugees during the 1980s.
Sihasak delivered Thailand’s national statement on Feb. 24 at the High-Level Segment of the 61st Session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, where he said Thailand had opened its borders to shelter hundreds of thousands of Cambodians fleeing conflict in the 1980s.
In response, Ieng Mouly, a former secretary-general of the Khmer People’s National Liberation Front and ex-member of the SNC, said refugee camps established along the Thai frontier during that period — including Nong Chan, Rithisen, Ampil and a few more — were located on Cambodian territory.
“At no time did Thai forces defend those camps during attacks in the 1980s, because they were Khmer camps on Cambodian soil,” he said, referring to clashes involving forces of the then People’s Republic of Kampuchea backed by Vietnam.
He described the assertion that the camps were inside Thailand as “entirely false,” adding that following the 1991 Paris Peace Agreements, Cambodian refugees were repatriated and none remained in Thailand on a long-term basis.
The exchange comes amid renewed tensions along the Cambodia–Thailand border, where Phnom Penh has accused Thai forces of occupying disputed areas and altering conditions on the ground.
Ieng Mouly also called for the immediate deployment of a Joint Survey Team from both countries to resume technical border demarcation work.
Thai authorities have not publicly responded to his statement.
Cambodia and Thailand share an 800-kilometer land border that has periodically been the subject of dispute, particularly over interpretations of colonial-era treaties and maps.
