Overview
ASEAN recognises the multi-faceted nature of maritime issues and therefore commits to a holistic, integrated and comprehensive approach to address them. More specifically, ASEAN recognises sea piracy as a form of transnational crime with linkage to other form of transnational crime, such as terrorism, illicit drug trafficking, illicit trafficking of wildlife and timber, trafficking in persons and people smuggling.
Priority Areas of Cooperation
ASEAN enhances its cooperation to address sea piracy through the inclusion of this crime as one of ten areas of cooperation of the ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Transnational Crime (AMMTC). ASEAN also has adopted the ASEAN Plan of Action in Combating Transnational Crime to serve as a policy guidance to promote cooperation in this area. SOMTC continues to facilitate exchange of information among the ASEAN Member States to enhance collective efforts in combatting this crime.
Meanwhile, the ASEAN Defence Ministerial Meeting (ADMM) and the ADMM-Plus promote maritime confidence-building measures and improving inter-operability among navies of ASEAN Member States and its external partners.
Under the ambit of the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), the Inter-Sessional Meeting on Maritime Security (ISM on MS) established in 2008 is a dedicated platform to discuss maritime security. The ISM on MS is guided by the ARF Work Plan on Maritime Security which focuses on the following priority areas:
- Shared Awareness and Exchange of Information and Best Practices;
- Confidence Building Measures based on International and Regional Legal Frameworks, Arrangements and Cooperation including the 1982 UNCLOS, and
- Capacity Building and Enhancing Cooperation of Maritime Law Enforcement Agencies in the Region. For more information, please visit the ARF website at http://aseanregionalforum.asean.org/
Major Sectoral Bodies/Committees
Several ASEAN Sectoral Bodies and mechanisms are addressing both traditional and non-traditional dimensions of maritime security from their respective purviews, namely, the ARF, the ADMM and the ADMM-Plus and the AMMTC and their subsidiary bodies.
Key Documents
