3.2 Structure of ASEAN

3.2

Structure of ASEAN

ASEAN is an intergovernmental process, the institutional architecture of which is comprised of policymaking, and consultative and implementing bodies governed by the procedural rule of consensus. Chapter IV and Chapter X of the ASEAN Charter249 set out the mandate and functions of the different components of ASEAN’s structure.

The ASEAN Summit stands out as the supreme policy-making body of ASEAN, bringing together the ASEAN Member States’ Heads of State or Government. The Member States rotate annually in assuming its Chairmanship. The ASEAN Coordinating Council is second in importance, consisting of the ASEAN Foreign Ministers. Each of the three pillars of ASEAN has its respective ASEAN Community Council. Under the purview of the ASEAN Community Councils are the relevant ASEAN Sectoral Ministerial Bodies. Sectoral policymakers from the relevant Ministries of the Member States meet regularly within the framework of the three ASEAN Community Councils and of 30 Sectoral Ministerial Bodies, each of which is supported by the technical expertise of the related Senior Officials Committees.

TOC falls mostly under the purview of the ASEAN Political-Security Community, although combating or responding to TOC is a cross-cutting issue. The main sectoral bodies that deal with TOC are the Senior Official (Ministers) Meeting on Transnational Crime (SOMTC/AMMTC), and the ASEAN Senior Official (Ministerial) Meeting on Drug Maters (ASOD/ADM) which are under the Political-Security Community. The ASEAN Senior Law Officials (Ministers) Meeting (ASLOM/ALAWMM)) is also under this pillar. The focal agencies for SOMTC are the police, while ASOD is led by Office of Narcotics Control Board, and the focal agencies for ASLOM are the Ministry of Justice & Office of Attorney General. The ASEAN Wildlife Enforcement Network (ASEAN-WEN), in turn, has both the forestry ministry and the police as its focal agencies.

Policy and institutional coordination is entrusted to a permanent ASEAN Secretariat, headed by the ASEAN Secretary-General with the support of four Deputy Secretary Generals (DSGs) from different Member States. Other permanent ASEAN bodies include the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR) with the mandate to handle cross-cutting human rights-related matters; the ASEAN Regional Forum through which ASEAN engages with non-ASEAN states on political and security matters; and the ASEAN Foundation in charge of supporting ASEAN in promoting awareness, identity, interaction and human development in four thematic areas: education, arts and culture, media, and community building.

The Committee of Permanent Representatives to ASEAN (CPR) constituted by the permanent representatives of ASEAN Member States is tasked with monitoring and implementing Leaders’ decisions, coordinating cross-pillar issues, and providing support to the ASEAN Secretariat. The recommendations of the CPR also feed into policy discussions at the sectoral, ministerial and summit levels, including with ASEAN’s external partners.250

249 Ibid., paragraph 7.f. 250 ASEAN Secretariat. (2015). ASEAN Economic Community At A Glance 2007-2014. ASEAN, Jakarta. Retrieved from http://www.asean. org/storage/2015/12/AEC-at-a-Glance-2015.pdf