The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was formed in 1967 by Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand to promote political and economic cooperation and regional stability. Brunei joined in 1984, shortly after its independence from the United Kingdom, and Vietnam joined ASEAN as its seventh member in 1995. Laos and Burma were admitted into full membership in July 1997 as ASEAN celebrated its 30th anniversary. Cambodia became ASEAN’s tenth member in 1999.
The ASEAN Declaration in 1967, considered ASEAN’s founding document, formalized the principles of peace and cooperation to which ASEAN is dedicated. The ASEAN Charter entered into force on 15 December 2008. With the entry into force of the ASEAN Charter, ASEAN established its legal identity as an international organization and took a major step in its community-building process.
The ASEAN Community is comprised of three pillars, the Political-Security Community, Economic Community and Socio-Cultural Community. Each pillar has its own Blueprint approved at the summit level, and, together with the Initiative for ASEAN Integration (IAI) Strategic Framework and IAI Work Plan Phase II (2009-2015), they form the Roadmap for and ASEAN Community 2009-2015.
ASEAN commands far greater influence on Asia-Pacific trade, political, and security issues than its members could achieve individually. This has driven ASEAN’s community building efforts. This work is based largely on consultation, consensus, and cooperation.
U.S. relations with ASEAN have been excellent since its inception. The United States became a Dialogue Partner country of ASEAN in 1977. Dialogue partners meet regularly with ASEAN at the working and senior levels to guide the development of our regional relations. In July 2009, Secretary Clinton signed the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia (TAC) which has greatly enhanced U.S. political relations with ASEAN.
Every year following the ASEAN Ministerial Meeting, ASEAN holds its Post-Ministerial Conference (PMC) to which the Secretary of State is invited. In 1994, ASEAN took the lead in establishing the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), which now has 27 members and meets each year at the ministerial level just after the PMC.
On November 15, 2009, President Obama met with ASEAN leaders in Singapore. This was the first meeting ever between a U.S. President and all ten ASEAN leaders. The President’s meeting has greatly advanced U.S. relations with ASEAN and the East Asia region. Nina Hachigian is the U.S. Ambassador to ASEAN.
Mission
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was founded on 8 August 1967 in Bangkok with the signing of the Declaration by Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand. Brunei Darussalam joined ASEAN on 8 January 1984, Viet Nam on 28 July 1995, Lao PDR and Myanmar on 23 July 1997, Cambodia on 30 April 1999. ASEAN currently has 10 Member States. The highest decision-making body of ASEAN is the meeting of the Heads of the State of Government of the Member States – the ASEAN Summit. The ASEAN Charter came into force on 15 December 2008, making ASEAN a rules-based inter-governmental organization with a new legal and institutional framework.
The ASEAN Declaration states that the aims and purposes of the Association, among others, are to:
- Accelerate the economic growth, social progress and cultural development in the region through joint endeavors in the spirit of equality and partnership
in order to strengthen the foundation for a prosperous and peaceful community of Southeast Asian Nations.
- Promote regional peace and stability through abiding respect for justice and the rule of law in the relationship among countries of the region and adherence to the principles of the United Nations Charter.
- Promote active collaboration and mutual assistance on matters of common interest in the economic, social, cultural, technical, scientific and administrative fields.
Disaster Reduction Goal
ASEAN has a strong commitment towards achieving a disaster-resilient ASEAN Community by 2015. Through the ASEAN Agreement on Disaster Management and Emergency Response (AADMER), it espouses a proactive approach to disaster management and sets in place regional policies, operational, and logistical mechanisms to enable ASEAN Member states to seek and extend assistance in times of disaster and carry out collaborative undertakings on disaster mitigation, prevention, preparedness, response, recovery, and rehabilitation.
Vision: Disaster-resilient nations and safer communities in the ASEAN region by 2015.
Goal: Substantially reduce loss of life and damage to economic, social, physical and environmental assets of ASEAN Member States caused by natural and human-induced disasters.
DRR activities
Policies and Programmes in DRR
The ASEAN Agreement on Disaster Management and Emergency Response (AADMER) is a multi-hazard legal and policy framework that will provide structures, mechanisms, and strategies for undertaking regional cooperation on disaster management. It also affirms ASEAN's commitment to the Hyogo Framework of Action (HFA) and is the first legally-binding HFA related instrument in the world. It complies and expands on HFA for 2005-2015 disaster resilience of nations.
The AADMER as a legal framework was translated into a WORK PROGRAMME that outlines activities & expected outputs, concrete actions & initiatives, to implement & operationalize the agreement, from 2010-2015. It serves as a concrete plan for multilateral cooperation and collaboration in disaster risk reduction in ASEAN. It was endorsed and adopted by the ASEAN Committee on Disaster Management (ACDM) in Singapore on March 2010 as a rolling plan.
14 Flagship Programmes under the AADMER:
1. Preparedness and Response
- ASEAN Disaster & Emergency Response Logistics System
-
Fully-functional Emergency Rapid Assessment Team (ERAT)
- Finalisation and institutionalisation of Standard Operating Procedure for Regional Standby Arrangements and Coordination of Joint Disaster Relief and Emergency Response Operations (SASOP)
2. Risk Assessment, Early Warning & Monitoring
- ASEAN-wide Disaster Risk Assessment
- Satellite-based Disaster Monitoring System
- GIS-based Disaster Information-Sharing Platform for Early Warning
3. Prevention &
Mitigation
- Building Disaster-Resilient ASEAN Cities
- Capacity-building for Community-based DRR
- Set-up Mechanisms for Risk Financing
4. Recovery
- Production of a Disaster Recovery Toolkit
5. Outreach & Mainstreaming
- Building a culture of disaster-resilience in ASEAN
6. Training and Knowledge Management Systems
- Identifying priority training needs
- Training of ASEAN Trainers and Subject Matter Experts for AADMER
- Setting up of an
“ASEAN Resource Centre” as part of the AHA Centre
Membership in Key Networks
ASEAN Committee on Disaster Management (ACDM)
Disaster Reduction Focal Point(s)
Ms. Adelina Kamal
Head of Disaster Management & Humanitarian Assistance Division, ASEAN Secretariat
Email:
Websites
//www.asean.org
//www.aseandrr.net
Making disaster risk reduction a policy priority, institutional strengthening (HFA 1)
- Implementation
of the ASEAN Agreement on Disaster Management and Emergency Response (AADMER) Work Programme.
- Finalisation and institutionalisation of Standard Operating Procedure for Regional Standby Arrangements and Coordination of Joint Disaster Relief and Emergency Response Operations (SASOP)
- Set-up Mechanisms for ASEAN Risk Financing & Insurance Strategy
Risk assessment and early warning systems (HFA 2)
- ASEAN-Wide Disaster Risk Assessment Programme
- Satellite-based
Disaster Monitoring System
- GIS-based Disaster Information-Sharing Platform for Early Warning
Education, information and public awareness (HFA 3)
- Training of ASEAN Trainers and Subject Matter Experts for AADMER
- Setting up of an “ASEAN Resource Centre” as part of the AHA Centre
- Development of the ASEAN DRR Portal website as a resource on DRR in ASEAN
- Building Disaster-Resilient ASEAN Cities
- Production of IEC Materials to increase awareness on AADMER
Reducing underlying risk factors (HFA 4)
- Capacity-building for Community-based DRR
- Technical support in the enforcement of building and land-use regulations in pilot cities
- Development of DRR Action Plans, including climate change adaptation
Preparedness for effective response (HFA 5)
- ASEAN Disaster & Emergency Response Logistics System
- Fully-functional Emergency Rapid Assessment Team (ERAT)
- Production of a Disaster Recovery Toolkit