The ASEAN Charter: From Ten Signatures to New Institutions

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations was established in 1967 and expanded to ten member countries by 1999. Cooperation subsequently extended beyond economic exchange to cross-border crime, public health and disaster response. The Eminent Persons Group’s 2006 report cited the 1997 Asian financial crisis, the 2003 SARS outbreak and the 2004 tsunami as examples of interdependence, arguing that individual governments could not handle such transnational problems alone.

The 2004 Vientiane Action Programme made a charter an objective. In December 2005, leaders in Kuala Lumpur launched the Eminent Persons Group, chaired by former Malaysian deputy prime minister Musa Hitam. Its members included former Indonesian foreign minister Ali Alatas and former Philippine president Fidel Ramos. The group met eight times, consulted parliamentarians, civil-society organizations, business representatives and academics, and visited Brussels to study European integration. Its report emphasized the need for greater capacity to implement existing commitments as well as new plans. The Cebu Declaration on the Blueprint of the ASEAN Charter followed in January 2007.

References: [2] [3]

On 20 November 2007, during the thirteenth ASEAN Summit in Singapore, the ten heads of state or government signed the charter. The signatories included Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and Myanmar Prime Minister Thein Sein. A common set of principles encompassed members with markedly different political systems.

Signature was followed by domestic procedures. Article 47 required each country to ratify the charter and deposit its instrument with the ASEAN secretary-general. Entry into force would follow on the thirtieth day after the tenth deposit. The Secretariat’s annual report lists the dates of instruments and deposits separately: Singapore’s instrument was dated 18 December 2007 and deposited on 7 January 2008; following presidential ratification and Senate concurrence, the Philippines deposited its instrument on 3 November. Thailand made the final deposit on 15 November, establishing 15 December 2008 as the common entry-into-force date. The United Nations registration also confirms that date. Signature in 2007 had preceded the charter’s operation.

References: [1] [3]

Article 3 grants ASEAN legal personality as an intergovernmental organization. The summit remains its highest decision-making body and is required to meet twice annually. Foreign ministers form a coordinating council that connects summit decisions with the political-security, economic and socio-cultural community councils. Member countries must also appoint ambassador-level permanent representatives based in Jakarta, forming a committee that provides a more stable mechanism for coordination between sectors.

References: [1] [3]

The group had recommended measures including suspension of certain membership rights for serious violations of shared commitments. It also proposed that matters on which consensus was unavailable could be decided by voting under procedures determined by the leaders. These proposals expressed a wish to strengthen compliance, but the final provisions did not adopt them directly.

Article 20 retains consultation and consensus as the basic decision-making principle. When consensus cannot be achieved, the summit decides how a particular decision should be made. Serious violations of the charter and non-compliance also go to the summit. Economic commitments may use flexible participation by a subset of members where there is consensus. Democracy, the rule of law and human rights appear among the purposes and principles, while non-interference remains. Application thus requires political coordination between governments; the charter did not create an automatic sanctions system.

References: [1] [2]

Article 14 requires a human-rights body, with its terms of reference determined by the foreign ministers. The terms adopted on 20 July 2009 define the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights as a consultative intergovernmental body. Each country appoints a representative accountable to the appointing government. The commission decides by consensus, with functions including education, research, dialogue, obtaining human-rights information from member countries and reporting to foreign ministers. The document does not establish a procedure for adjudicating individual complaints.

The commission was inaugurated at Cha-am–Hua Hin in Thailand on 23 October 2009. Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva announced commitments from members totaling US$200,000 in first-year start-up funding. He acknowledged outside criticism that its powers were insufficient and described it as a process of gradual development. Through signature, national ratification, appointments, funding and definition of responsibilities, ASEAN added shared institutions whose effects would be tested in subsequent work.

References: [1] [4] [5]