June Kunugi, Regional Director for East Asia and the Pacific – based in Bangkok – urged both countries to protect children and the critical services they depend on, in line with their obligations under international law, including the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

“Children must be protected at all times and their safety and wellbeing must be prioritised, while schools must remain safe spaces for learning,” she said.

Security Council private meeting

At UN Headquarters in New York, ambassadors convened for an emergency private meeting of the Security Council to discuss the situation.

Representatives of Thailand and Cambodia were said to be in attendance, with Khaled Khiari, Assistant Secretary-General for the Asia and the Pacific at the UN Department of Political Affairs (DPPA), briefing.

Private meetings of the Security Council are closed to the public, but considered a formal meeting.

A longstanding dispute

The last major flare-up between the two countries occurred in 2011, when days of border fighting near the historic Preah Vihear temple – a UNESCO World Heritage Site – left multiple casualties on both sides.

Then-Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon had called for an immediate, verifiable ceasefire and urged both countries to resolve their dispute through dialogue, not military means.

That escalation followed a 2008 troop build-up around the 11th-century Hindu temple, which sits on the Cambodian side of the border.