One Vision. One Identity. One Community.
The ASEAN Community 2015 is a community of opportunities under three community pillars: PoliticalSecurity Community, Economic Community, and Socio-Cultural Community. Its launch in 2015 is a
historic milestone and a culmination of ASEAN’s resilience and dynamism throughout a journey of nearly
half a century, and signals to the world how far and how well the ASEAN Member States have achieved
incoming together as one community.
The ASEAN Community ascertains that the goal of ASEAN’s founding fathers of improving the lives of its
people is reflected in the region’s economic and cultural development, social progress, regional peace
and security, collaboration, mutual assistance in training and research, improvement of living standards,
promotion of Southeast Asian studies and cooperation with regional and international organizations.
The organization recognizes the importance of ensuring the safety of its citizens from such threats
as climate change, pandemics, natural disasters, and transnational crimes, offering new opportunities
to the region and the world of peace and stability, of bigger, more open and the rules-based market for
business, of better health and education; and of sustainable development.
Recognizing the twin visions of peace and prosperity, ASEAN sustained peace in Southeast Asia by
integrating harmonious inter-state relations through the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast
Asia (TAC) for the ASEAN Member States and more than 20 external parties, the Declaration on 2002
Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC) and the Code of Conduct in the South China Sea
(COC) that guide ASEAN and China to exercise self-restraint, refrain from the use of force, undertake
practical maritime cooperation, and promote the peaceful settlement of disputes in the South China Sea.
Southeast Asia is free of nuclear weapons and weapons of mass destruction through the Treaty on the
Southeast Asia Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone (SEANWFZ) that also protects the region from environmental
pollution and the hazards of radioactive and toxic waste materials.
The ASEAN Convention on Counter
Terrorism (ACCT) is ASEAN’s regional cooperation framework to counter, prevent and suppress terrorism
and deepen counter-terrorism cooperation.
Defense and military cooperation is gearing up with
the establishment of the ASEAN Defence Ministers
Meeting (ADMM) and the ADMM-Plus that provide
Member States with counter-terrorism, maritime
security and humanitarian assistance and disaster
relief exercises, fostering understanding and improving
capability and readiness.
The ASEAN Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian
Assistance (AHA Centre) is at the forefront of ASEAN’s
strategy to instill resilience and face its vulnerabilities
through a systematized regional disaster risk
management and climate change adaptation that is
harmonized with national and local policies and laws.
Already an international organization by virtue of
the ASEAN Charter in 2008, ASEAN has built and
strengthened its institutional frameworks towards
greater effectiveness, efficiency, better synergy
and coordination, paving the way for a rules-based
and comprehensive institutional infrastructure
commensurate with the needs of regional integration
and community building.
Implementation of the ASEAN economic integration
measures have led to the establishment of the ASEAN
Economic Community (AEC), which provides ASEAN
people with an open and integrated market where
there are more product choices at competitive costs.
The AEC initiatives have also supported businesses to
explore markets and extend their market reach at reduced costs through simplified cross-border trading
processes and improved investment climate. At the same time, ASEAN economic integration is pursued
not only through internal integration but also integration to the global economy; the latter is anchored
on forward-looking free trade and comprehensive economic partnership agreements and initiatives to
enhance global value chain participation. The AEC has also put in place frameworks and legal structures
on competition, consumer protection and intellectual property as well as improved transportation and
infrastructure networks, contributing to an improved environment for business. Last but not least, the
AEC also strives to be a community that is inclusive and equitable, with focused efforts to facilitate
and support the active and gainful participation of small and medium enterprises and newer ASEAN
Member States in the economic community.
The ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community has put efforts to lift the quality of life of ASEAN peoples through
cooperative activities that are people-oriented, people-centered, environmentally friendly, and that foster
inter-cultural understanding and mutual respect. The ASCC’s activities have resulted in a deepening of
the sense of ASEAN identity, and collectively accelerating socio-cultural growth and progress by:
- lowering the proportion of people living on less than $1.25/ day--from 1 in 2 to 1 in 8 persons over the last two decades;
- reducing maternal mortality per 100,000 live births from 371.2 in 1990 to 103.7 in 2012;
- reducing the proportion of urban slum populations from 40% in 2000 to 31% in 2012 ;
- the increasing net enrolment rate for primary school children from 92% in 1999 to 94% in 2012;
- an increasing the proportion of seats held by women in parliaments from 12% in 2000 to 18.5% in 2012 and
- enlisting 35 ASEAN natural heritage parks and 24 UNESCO cultural heritage sites in the ASEAN region as of 2015.
The ASEAN Inter-governmental Commission for Human Rights (AICHR), established in 2009 as the first
sub-regional human rights institution in the Asia-Pacific, and the ASEAN Human Rights Declaration
adopted in 2012 have established a framework for human rights cooperation in the region and continued
to mainstream the issue of human rights in all three pillars of ASEAN.
Over the next ten years, the regional grouping will enter the next phase of consolidation, further
integration and stronger cohesiveness as a Community. ASEAN is working towards a Community that
is “politically cohesive, economically integrated, and socially responsible”. Moving forward, the ASEAN community will continue to provide opportunities to its citizens and ensure that improvements in their
lives are sustained under a common vision and identity.
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