WE, the Member States of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (hereinafter referred to as “ASEAN”), namely: Brunei Darussalam, the Kingdom of Cambodia, the Republic of Indonesia, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Malaysia, the Republic of the Union of Myanmar, the Republic of the Philippines, the Republic of Singapore, the Kingdom of Thailand, and the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam, hereby declare our commitment to strengthening the care economy and fostering resilience towards the post-2025 ASEAN Community;

UPHOLDING the commitment of ASEAN to promote gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls enshrined, inter alia, in the Declaration on the Advancement of Women in the ASEAN Region (1988), Ha Noi Declaration on the Enhancement of Welfare and Development of ASEAN Women and Children (2010), ASEAN Human Rights Declaration and the Phnom Penh Statement on the Adoption of the AHRD (2012), Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women and Elimination of Violence Against Children in ASEAN (2013), ASEAN Convention Against Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children (2015), Kuala Lumpur Declaration On Ageing: Empowering Older Persons in ASEAN (2015), Joint Statement on Promoting Women, Peace and Security in ASEAN (2017), Declaration on the Gender-Responsive Implementation of the ASEAN Community Vision 2025 and the 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development (2017), ASEAN Consensus on the Protection and Promotion of Rights of Migrant Workers (2017), ASEAN Enabling Masterplan 2025: Mainstreaming the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2018), ASEAN Gender Mainstreaming Strategic Framework (2021-2025), ASEAN Guidelines on Gender Mainstreaming into Labour and Employment Policies Towards Decent Work and All (2020), ASEAN Comprehensive Framework On Care Economy (2021), the ASEAN Declaration on Gender Equality and Family Development (2023), and the ASEAN Policy Brief on Gender Mainstreaming Approaches to the ASEAN Comprehensive Recovery Framework (2023), among others;