Fight back on for UNESCO recognition

The government is throwing its weight behind a joint initiative by the Ministry of Culture and the National Olympic Committee of Cambodia to re-submit its plea to UNESCO for recognition of kun l’bokator as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, a status three other Cambodian Angkor-era traditions have enjoyed since 2008.

The renewed bid, which is to be made in the coming months, conclusively addresses several issues UNESCO had raised after NOCC’s first attempt in 2012 to seek recognition for this nearly 1,000-year-old martial art, which ranks among the world’s most ancient fighting techniques.

“There is a total conceptual and strategic change in the way we are presenting our case to UNESCO this time. The Ministry of Culture coming into this is very significant as is the steadfast support from the World Martial Arts Union, of which Cambodia is a member,” secretary-general of the NOCC Vath Chamroeun told the Post in an exclusive interview.

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