Significance of the ASEAN Charter
With the entry into force of the ASEAN Charter on 15 December 2008, ASEAN will henceforth operate under a new legal framework and establish a number of new organs to boost its community-building process.
The ASEAN Charter has been fully ratified (or accepted in Member States without Parliament or when such ratification cane be done through a Cabinet decision) in all the 10 ASEAN Member States. Singapore was the first to deposit its instrument of ratification with the Secretary-General of ASEAN, on 7 January 2008; Thailand was the last, on 15 November 2008.
In effect, the ASEAN Charter has become a legally binding agreement among the 10 ASEAN Member States. It will also be registered with the Secretariat of the United Nations, pursuant to Article 102, Paragraph 1
of the Charter of the United Nations.
The importance of the ASEAN Charter can be seen in the following contexts:
- New political commitment at the top level
- New and enhanced commitments
- New legal framework, legal personality
- New ASEAN bodies
- Two new openly-recruited DSGs
- More ASEAN meetings
- More roles of ASEAN Foreign Ministers
- New and enhanced role of the SecretaryGeneral of ASEAN
- Other new initiatives and changes
- What remains unchanged?
New political commitment at the top level
- To unite under One Vision, One Identity and One Caring and Sharing Community
- To build the ASEAN Community comprising:
- ASEAN Political-SecurityCommunity
- ASEAN Economic Community
- ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community
- Mutual interests and interdependence among ASEAN peoples; common
- objectives and shared destiny
- “Member States shall take all necessary measures, including the enactment of appropriate domestic legislation, to effectively implement the provisions of this
- Charter and to comply with all obligations of membership;” (Article 5.2)
- Principles of democracy, the rule of law, and good governance
- Respect for and protection and promotion of human rights
- Peace-oriented values
- Nuclear weapon-free Southeast Asia, and free of all other weapons of mass destruction
- “shared commitment and collective responsibility in enhancing regional peace, security and prosperity” (Article 2.2 (b))
- “enhanced consultations on matters seriously affecting the common interest of ASEAN;” (Article 2.2 (g))
- Rules-based economic integration; market economy
- Adherence to multilateral trade rules and ASEAN’s rules-based regimes
- Progress reduction towards elimination of all barriers to regional economic integration
- “We, THE PEOPLES of the Member States of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), …” (Preamble)
- At least 10 of the 15 “purposes” of ASEAN are directly related to the peoples of ASEAN (See Article 1.4, and 1.6 – 14)
- Peoples at the centre of the ASEAN community-building process
- “To promote a people-oriented ASEAN in which all sectors of society are encouraged to participate in, and benefit from, the process of ASEAN integration and community building;” (Article 1.13)
