The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) ASEAN was founded on August 8, 1967. Its ten member states are Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. The aims and purposes of the organization are stated in its founding document, the Bangkok Declaration (also known as the ASEAN Declaration) of 1967.[1] These objectives include: (1) the acceleration of economic growth, social progress and cultural development in the region, and (2) the promotion of regional peace and stability. The most important event in the ASEAN calendar is the ASEAN Summit, an annual meeting of ASEAN heads of state held around November or December each year. This meeting represents the highest decision-making body of ASEAN. In addition, the foreign ministers of ASEAN countries meet around July or August each year at the ASEAN Ministerial Meeting, and the region’s economic ministers convene each August or September. The ongoing work of these meetings, and of other standing and ad hoc groups within ASEAN, is supported by a permanent Secretariat based in Jakarta.[2] The Secretariat is headed by a Secretary-General, who is appointed for a five-year term.[3] Recent Developments: Progress towards establishing an ASEAN Community ASEAN member states have moved closer in recent months to establishing an “ASEAN Community” by 2015. It is anticipated that this Community will function under the terms of an ASEAN Charter and will include a common market of ASEAN economies. Member states had previously envisioned that an ASEAN Community would be established by 2020. In 1997, the 30th anniversary year of the organization, ASEAN leaders adopted the “ASEAN Vision 2020”.[4] In 2003, they signed the Declaration of ASEAN Concord II (also known as the Bali Concord II)[5] , affirming the goal of an ASEAN Community and elaborating on the components of such a community. The Bali Concord II states that the ASEAN Community will comprise “three pillars, namely political and security cooperation, economic cooperation, and socio-cultural coop-eration . . . for the purpose of ensuring durable peace, stability and shared prosperity in the region”[6] and an “economic region in which there is a free flow of goods, services, investment and a freer flow of capital.”[7] In 2007, the fortieth anniversary year of the organization, the member states of ASEAN advanced the target date of establishing an ASEAN Community to 2015.[8] Of the several steps taken towards achieving this goal, two are of particular significance. First, ASEAN member states moved closer to ratifying an ASEAN Charter, which will provide the organization with a formal legal personality and the proposed ASEAN Community with an institutional framework. The process of drafting an ASEAN Charter began in 2006, when ASEAN heads of state appointed an Eminent Persons Group (EPG) to examine and provide practical recommendations on a charter.[9] At the 12th ASEAN Summit held in The Philippines on January 9-15, 2007, ASEAN heads of state endorsed a Report of the EPG on the ASEAN Charter (the “EPG Report”)[10] which recommended provisions to be included in a charter[11] and instructed a High Level Task Force to complete a draft ASEAN Charter in time for the 13th ASEAN Summit which will be held in Singapore in November 2007.[12] A preliminary draft of the Charter, prepared by the High Level Task Force, was presented and discussed at the Ministerial Meeting of ASEAN’s foreign ministers held in July 2007.[13] The ASEAN Charter is intended to facilitate the operation of a single ASEAN Community as envisaged in the ASEAN Vision 2020 and the Bali Concord II.[14] Hence the EPG has recommended that the Charter provide for permanent representatives of member states in Jakarta, who will be able to work year-round with the Secretariat, Secretary-General and various ASEAN working groups.[15] It is anticipated that the Charter will also include provisions on human rights, and may even establish a regional human rights commission.[16] However, the detailed provisions of the proposed ASEAN Charter are not yet known. The draft Charter presented to ASEAN’s foreign ministers in July 2007 was not released to the public. It appears that the text of the Charter will be unveiled only upon its adoption by ASEAN heads of state, which is scheduled to happen at the 13th ASEAN Summit in November 2007. The second significant step taken towards an ASEAN Community this year was the adoption of an ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) Blueprint at the annual meeting of the region’s economic ministers, held this year in The Philippines in August 2007.[17] The AEC Blueprint provides a road-map to a regional free trade zone by 2015, whereby ASEAN’s more affluent members (Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand) will slash tariffs for most goods and services by 2010, and its remaining members (Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam) will follow suit by 2015.[18] The heads of states of ASEAN nations are expected to sign a declaration to effect the AEC Blueprint at the 13th ASEAN Summit in Singapore in November 2007.[19] As with the draft ASEAN Charter, however, the text of the AEC Blueprint remains confidential and is expected to be released only in November 2007.[20] **** The recent developments within ASEAN signal its emerging maturity[21] ; from a regional forum focused on trade and security, to a fully-fledged regional organization with shared values and policies on social, economic and geo-political matters. The adoption of an ASEAN Charter this November will mark a critical moment in ASEAN’s history. The Charter is expected to transform ASEAN into a treaty-based organization and confer it with an international legal personality akin to other established regional blocs such as the European Union. However, until its full text is known, questions remain as to how certain fundamental issues will be addressed within the Charter. First, what will the decision-making structures and processes of ASEAN look like in the post-Charter era? For example, it is unclear whether the highly consensual style of decision-making that has hitherto characterized ASEAN will be replaced by a more robust system of authority.[22] Second, on what values will the Charter be founded? In particular, the extent to which Charter will recognize and protect human rights remains uncertain. Individual human rights have long been controversial in the ASEAN region, where political leaders have often argued that such rights are limited by ‘Asian values’ and rarely criticized the human rights records of fellow ASEAN states. More recently, however, the human rights situation in Myanmar – and especially the latest events of September 2007 – has exposed the shortcomings of a non-interventionist stance, and forced greater attention to human rights in ASEAN’s agenda.[23] The birth of an ASEAN Charter represents a vital opportunity for the organization to overcome its past weaknesses in upholding human rights in the region. While the Charter will serve as the foundation of the ASEAN Community, the proposed common market is expected to be its lifeblood. The full details of the AEC Blueprint for a regional common market by 2015 will be unveiled only in November 2007, but at least two broad observations can be made thus far. First, it is telling that the anticipated effective date of the common market has been accelerated from 2020 to 2015. With China and India as powerhouse neighbors, ASEAN member states – whose combined populations total over 500 million – are clearly feeling an urgency to solidify their collective economic clout.[24] Second, the substantial disparities in levels of economic development among ASEAN member states will undoubtedly pose challenges to the project of a regional common market, and more generally, to that of an ASEAN Community. It remains to be seen whether economies as diverse as Singapore and Myanmar can successfully coalesce into a common market and, moreover, into a shared regional identity. Prof. Dinusha Panditaratne School of Law The Chinese University of Hong Kong Footnotes: 1 The ASEAN Declaration, August 8, 1967, available at http://www.aseansec.org/1212.htm 2 Agreement on the Establishment of the ASEAN Secretariat, Bali, February 24, 1976, available at http://www.aseansec.org/1265.htm 3 Protocol Amending the Agreement on the Establishment of the ASEAN Secretariat, Manila, Philippines, July 22, 1992, available at http://www.aseansec.org/1198.htm. 4 ASEAN Vision 2020, December 15, 1997, available at http://www.aseansec.org/5228.htm. 5 Declaration of ASEAN Concord II (Bali Concord II), October 7, 2003, available at http://www.aseansec.org/15159.htm. 6 Id. at Article 1. 7 Id. at Article 1, Section B. 8 Cebu Declaration on the Acceleration of the Establishment of an ASEAN Community by 2015, January 13, 2007, available at http://www.aseansec.org/5228.htm. 9 Kuala Lumpur Declaration on the Establishment of the ASEAN Charter, December 12, 2005, available at http://www.aseansec.org/18030.htm. 10 Report of the Eminent Persons Group on the ASEAN Charter, available at http://www.aseansec.org/19247.pdf [hereinafter EPG Report]. 11 Cebu Declaration on the Blueprint of the ASEAN Charter, January 13, 2007, available at http://www.aseansec.org/19257.htm [hereinafter Cebu Declaration]. 12 Id. 13 Joint Communique of the 40th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting (AMM) “One Caring and Sharing Community”, July 29-30, 2007, available at http://www.aseansec.org/20764.htm, paragraph 21. 14 Cebu Declaration, supra note 11. 15 EPG Report, supra note 10, at paragraphs 38-39. 16 EPG Report, supra note 10, at paragraph 47. See also Ralph Cossa, Is Asean coming of age, after 40 years, SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST, September 6, 2007; and Human rights body backed but other decisions delayed, SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST, July 31, 2007. 17 Joint Media Statement, The Thirty-Ninth ASEAN Economic Ministers’ (AEM) Meeting, Makati City, Philippines, August 24, 2007, available at http://www.aseansec.org/20853.htm. 18 See ASEAN ministers approve blueprint to transform region into a boom zone by 2015, INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE, August 24, 2007 [hereinafter ASEAN ministers approve blueprint], available at http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/08/24/business/AS-FIN-ASEAN.php 19 Joint Media Statement, supra note 17.
20
The ASEAN Secretariat has stated that the draft ASEAN Charter and the AEC Blueprint are confidential (confirmed in an e-mail to the author on October 8, 2007). However, an unofficial copy of the AEC Blueprint is available at http://www.dtn.moc.go.th/vtl_upload_file//1191484677265/AEM39 21 Cossa, supra note 16. 22 EPG Report, supra note 10, at paragraphs 18 and 29-30. (The EPG appears to accept that consensual decision-making should be retained in the “more sensitive areas of security and foreign policy”, but it recommends allowing majority voting in other areas such as economic cooperation.)
23
For two different commentaries on ASEAN’s approach to the situation on Myanmar, see Asean assails Myanmar, INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE, September 28, 2007, available at http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/09/28/news/asean.php and Lee Hudson Teslik, The ASEAN Bloc’s Myanmar Dilemma, October 2, 2007, available at http://www.cfr.org/publication/14353/asean_ 24 See ASEAN ministers approve blueprint, supra note 18. |
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