COOPERATION IN SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT


ASEAN's commitment to the promotion of social development in the region was reaffirmed by the ASEAN Heads of Government during the Fourth Summit. This commitment is reflected in a number of directives emanating from the Fourth Summit which pertain specifically to social development concerns, such as the enhancement of ASEAN awareness through the expansion of ASEAN studies in school and university curricula; the introduction's ASEAN student exchange programmes at secondary and tertiary levels of education; the proposal to establish an ASEAN University; women and children concerns; the problem of AIDS; and the participation of NGOs in intra-ASEAN functional cooperation.

The ASEAN Committee on Social Development (COSD) and its Sub-committees/subsidiary bodies continued to play a pivotal role in promoting ASEAN's cooperative programmes on social development and in translating the Fourth Summit directives into relevant activities. The COSD held its 17th Meeting in Jakarta on 24-27 November 1992.

Noting that there are several programme areas competing for limited funds, COSD requested its subsidiary bodies to draw up their respective mission statements and to identify the strategies which will guide the subsidiary bodies in the formulation of their projects.

Following are the highlights of COSD's programmes and activities for the year 1992-1993 :

The development of youth as future leaders and partners in nation building is a common concern and responsibility of the ASEAN Member Countries. The need to prepare the youth of ASEAN for an effective and active role in a rapidly changing world has been the underlying philosophy of ASEAN's cooperative programmes under the ASEAN Sub- committee on Youth (ASY). There was one critical element missing, however, i.e., a comprehensive approach in the development of the next generation of ASEAN leaders who are capable of looking beyond the confines of their respective national boundaries and towards a greater ASEAN solidarity and sense of belonging.

This subject was addressed by the First ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Youth held in Jakarta on 7-8 August 1992. The ASEAN Ministers on Youth recalled that the Declaration of Principles to Strengthen ASEAN Collaboration on Youth signed by the ASEAN Foreign Ministers in Bangkok on 24 June 1983 covered a number of strategies in promoting the youth as an integral part of social and economic development. These strategies covered, among others, the creation of access to education and job opportunities, enhancement of solidarity, exchange of information on youth, promotion of youth as human resources. and the participation of youth in non-governmental organizations. These strategies were the solid bases for the development of ASEAN youth for the present and for the future.

The Ministers on Youth made three important decisions at their First Meeting. First, they adopted the ASEAN Youth Development Strategy Towards the Year 2000 and Beyond as the Framework of ASEAN Youth Policy. Second, the Ministers on Youth adopted the Plan of Action for ASEAN Youth Development which outlines the different actions required at the national and regional levels to implement the strategy on youth development. Third, the Ministers declared the 8th of August as ASEAN Youth Day. The first ASEAN Youth Day was celebrated in Indonesia in 1992 which coincided with the First Ministerial Meeting on Youth. The next celebration will be held in Brunei Darussalam in 1993.

In the meantime, in the ASEAN Secretariat, a Senior Officer under the Functional Cooperation Bureau has been designated as focal point for youth to coordinate and monitor ASEAN youth affairs on a permanent and regular basis.

The 10th Meeting of the ASEAN Sub-committee on Youth (ASY) held in Bali on 9-12 February 1993 reviewed the status of implementation of projects. For the period under review, six projects were completed, namely :

  1. Computer Application Camp for ASEAN Youth Workers, Singapore, 4-10 May 1992;

  2. Exchange Programme for ASEAN Junior Youth Development Officers, Philippines, 12-18 July 1992;

  3. ASEAN Youth Day, Indonesia, 6-8 August 1992;
  4. Handicraft Workshop for ASEAN Youth, Mailand, 10-21 September 1992;

  5. Workshop on Youth and Cooperative Work, Thailand, 10-20 September 1992;

  6. ASEAN Workshop on Youth Entrepreneurship Development, Malaysia, 4-31 October 1992.

Two projects are on-going, namely, the ASEAN Volunteer Corps Exchange Programme coordinated by Malaysia, and Preparing Rural Youth for a Better Future in Agriculture coordinated by Thailand. Nine projects are pending implementation. Almost all of the projects implemented by the ASY received funding support from the Japan-ASEAN Exchange Programme (JAEP).

Following the request of the COSD, the ASY adopted a mission statement to guide its future activities, that is, "to prepare ASEAN youths as future leaders, to enhance youth contribution to world peace, progress and prosperity, and to promote and strengthen ASEAN youth cooperation and solidarity through supportive policies and programmes.

ASEAN's continued commitment to advance the role of women was given fresh impetus by the Fourth Summit which called for the "wider involvement and increased participation by women in the development of the ASEAN countries in order to meet their needs and aspirations."

The AWP has adopted the following mission statement: "to achieve a more effective and equitable participation of ASEAN women at all levels of society in national and regional development, both as active agents and beneficiaries, through appropriate government policies and programmes and by maximising the close cooperation between government and non-government organizations."

During the period under review, the AWP reached a milestone in its efforts to promote the Declaration on the Advancement of Women in ASEAN signed by the ASEAN Foreign Ministers in July 1988. At its 12th Meeting held in Singapore on 21-23 April 1993, AWP, after two years of deliberations and consultations, adopted the Guidelines to Operationalize the Declaration on the Advancement of Women in ASEAN and the Recommendations for the Mainstreaming of Women in ASEAN. The Guidelines outline the different measures and steps to be taken at the national, regional and international levels to promote the equitable and effective participation of women in the political, economic, social and cultural fields.

For the period under review, AWP completed the project on the ASEAN Experts Meeting on Future Cooperation Among ASEAN Clearinghouses on Women in Development, held in Jakarta on 6 - 8 October 1992 with funding from JAEP. Arising from the Experts Meeting were four recommendations, now under consideration by AWP, which pertain to a joint publication programme on ASEAN Clearinghouses on Women in Development, training on the use of CDS/ISIS for ASEAN Clearinghouses on Women in Development, a regional meeting on strategies for training of trainers for the dissemination of information with special reference to the grassroots level and the general public. and a workshop on the improvement of the Thesaurus on Women in Development.

The AWP also undertook a Gender Sensitivity Training Course for ASEAN Bodies conducted by the Asian Institute of Management with funding support from CIDA. The Course was held in Bali on 3-5 February 1993 and was attended by nineteen participants from the ASEAN Member Countries and the ASEAN Secretariat.

Two other activities which were completed during the period were: (1) the Meeting on the Prevention of Family Violence held in Kuala Lumpur on 3-5 May 1993; and (2) the Meeting on the Network on Indicators and Statistics on Women held in Jakarta on 29 June - I July 1993.

Women's organizations in ASEAN continued to be involved in AWP meetings and activities through the ASEAN Confederation of Women's Organizations (ACWO). It has been a tradition for the ACWO President to render a report of its activities at the annual AWP meetings. One of the most significant activities conducted by ACWO during the year was the holding of a conference on the theme " AIDS and the ASEAN Women - Challenges for the 21st Century" held in Kuala Lumpur on 13-17 April 1993. The main objective of the Conference was to strengthen and mobilize women NGOs in the ASEAN region in the prevention and control of the spread of the HIV infection.

The AWP focal points are now updating their directories of women's organizations for circulation at the next AWP meeting. In the meantime, Member Countries will continue to involve NGOS, both in the planning and implementation of their projects.

Urbanization and economic progress in ASEAN have resulted in changes in health patterns. Thus, while the ASEAN Member Countries have generally been successful in reducing the number of deaths from infectious diseases, they are now faced with an upsurge of non-communicable chronic diseases or so-called lifestyle diseases, such as coronary heart disease, stroke, diabetes, high blood pressure and cancers.

In recent years, ASEAN has been confronted with yet another alarming problem, the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Following the Fourth Summit directive for ASEAN to establish a Task force on AIDS and to initiate a regional programme against AIDS, the ASEAN Sub-committee on Health and Nutrition (ASCH & N) during its 10th Meeting held in Singapore on 21-23 July 1992, laid down the ground- work for the convening of the First Meeting of the Task Force on AIDS. The First meeting of the Task Force on AIDS was held in Jakarta on 31 March -2 April 1993.

The activities which the ASCH & N pursued during the year under review included three completed projects and one on-going project. One of the completed projects was a Seminar on Nutrition Improvement Efforts and Delivery Systems: Assessment of the State-of-the-Art in ASEAN. The Seminar was held in the Philippines on 1 - 5 September 1992 with funding from JAEP.

The ASEAN Primary Health Care Project was also completed. Under this project, and through the ASEAN Institute for Health Development based in Thailand, six international training programmes were conducted between 1991-1992. Masteral degrees in Primary Health Care Management were awarded to nine participants from three ASEAN Member Countries. Funding from the US to the ASEAN Scholarship Programme for Applied Tropical Medicine and Public Health (TROPNIED) based in Thailand terminated during the period under review.

The project on Technical Cooperation in Pharmaceuticals Among ASEAN Countries is on-going. Although UNDP funding for this project terminated in 1991, five activity areas for 1992 received funding support from the World Health Organization (WHO) in the amount of US$109,497. The different project components are being prioritized by Indonesia as project coordinator with the end in view of having the proposal for extension submitted to other donor countries.

The ASEAN Sub-committee on Education (ASCOE) is a newly established subsidiary body of COSD. ASCOE met for the first time in Jakarta on 10-12 September 1992. High on the agenda of that first meeting were the Fourth Summit directives concerning the expansion of ASEAN studies in school and university curricula, the introduction of ASEAN student exchange programmes at secondary and tertiary levels of education, and the proposal to establish an ASEAN University.

With regard to the directive on the expansion of ASEAN studies as part of Southeast Asian studies in the curriculum at the primary, secondary and university levels of education, ASCOE agreed to establish an ASEAN Experts Group to formulate the essential content of the curriculum to enhance ASEAN awareness among students at the primary and secondary levels of education.

In view of funding constraints which precluded the establishment of a separate group of experts to address the directive to introduce ASEAN student exchange programmes at the secondary and tertiary levels of education, ASCOE agreed to task the Experts Group on Curriculum the responsibility of also formulating the student exchange programme. On both directives, the terms of reference of the Experts Group were limited to primary and secondary levels of education, considering that flexibility in curriculum design at the tertiary level existed.

Following the above decision of ASCOE, the Experts Group on Education met for the first time in Quezon City, Philippines on 15-16 January 1993. . Arising from that meeting is a proposal entitled "A Project on Integrating ASEAN Studies in the Primary and Secondary Schools' Curricula" which includes a component on the student exchange programme. The proposal is due for consideration at the next ASCOE meeting scheduled in 1993.

The matter of the proposed establishment of an ASEAN University received unanimous support from ASCOE. The Sub-committee, however, agreed that the implementation of the recommendations to establish an ASEAN University need not proceed sequentially in phases as recommended by the study team which prepared the report on Establishing an ASEAN University in 1991. Instead, the Sub-committee agreed that ASEAN could immediately proceed to the third stage of implementation of the proposed plan which envisions the establishment of the network of centres of degree-granting institutions in the ASEAN region.

Pursuant to this decision of ASCOE, a Consultative Meeting of the ASEAN Group on ASEAN University was held in Jakarta on 27-29 January 1993. The Group came up with a number of recommendations which included the implementation of academic exchange programmes for staff members of ASEAN universities and the establishment of an ASEAN Fellowship Programme; the setting up of joint research programmes on subject matters of common interest; and the facilitation of a teaching programme on ASEAN studies in view of the difficulties in organizing joint degree programmes. These recommendations of the Consultative Meeting of the ASEAN Group on ASEAN University will be tabled for consideration by the next ASCOE Meeting tentatively scheduled in August/ September 1993.

The ASEAN Heads of Population Programme have not met since 1987. In this regard and in view of the fact that the ASEAN Population Coordination Unit which used to service the ASEAN Heads of Population Programme has been dissolved, population concerns have been placed under the direction of COSD, as agreed at the 17th COSD Meeting.

The complex world economic environment and greater global competition, the emergence of regional trading blocs, the rising tide of new forms of protectionism, and the rapid pace of technological development constitute some of the more formidable challenges now confronting labour relations and labour management relations in ASEAN. It was against this backdrop that the 9th Meeting of the ASEAN Labour Ministers was held in Manila on 26-27 November 1992.

At their 9th Meeting, the ASEAN Labour Ministers expressed their concern over such issues as the forms of restrictions and unfair practices in the field of trade and the linkage of labour and human rights with trade issues. To address this concern, the Ministers agreed that ASEAN Member Countries should speak with one concerted voice to resist protectionist barriers and the linking of trade issues with compliance to 6gid International Labour Organization (ILO) labour standards. Toward this end, the Ministers agreed that ASEAN missions in Geneva should work closely together and in consultation with ASEAN representatives to the Governing Body to resist protectionist activities. They also urged ILO to focus more on cooperative approaches to common problems such as workers' protection, employment creation, technical cooperation, and productivity improvements.

Among the various projects considered, the 9th ASEAN Labour Ministers Meeting accorded high priority to the project on Human Resource Development Planning. The Ministers also reviewed the status of programmes/projects on labour coordinated by the ASEAN Sub-committee on Labour Affairs (ASCLA). ASCLA, which held its 3rd Meeting in Kuala Lumpur on 3-4 November 1992, is primarily responsible for formulating policy and operational guidelines for intra-ASEAN cooperation in the field of labour based on decisions of the Ministers of Labour and other relevant ASEAN bodies. It is also responsible for the planning, coordination, and management of ASEAN collaborative projects on labour.

One of the activities brought to the attention of the Ministers by ASCLA was a sub-regional workshop under the ASEAN Labour Information Network (ALINE) Project held in Jakarta on 12-13 January 1993. The Workshop explored further collaboration on regional information networking, including the setting up of an ASEAN regional information centre.

The ASEAN Experts Group on Natural Disasters did not meet during the period under review. Its next meeting, the 8th, is tentatively scheduled on 9-11 August 1993 in Langkawi, Malaysia. One of the pending items to be taken up at this forthcoming meeting is the draft guidelines on definition and scope of man-made disasters arising mainly from human error and brought about by modem technology.

One of the directives emanating from the Fourth Summit concerned the development of children to realize their full potential. Following the recommendation of the ASEAN Women's Programme to treat women and children concerns separately considering that both concerns deserve special focus and attention, COSD, at its 17th Meeting, agreed to place children's concerns under the immediate purview of COSD. This arrangement would be maintained until such time that sizeable and substantial programmes on children were formulated to merit a proposal to establish a separate Sub-Committee for Children. In the meantime, Member Countries were requested to designate their respective desk officers for children to coordinate relevant programmes.

As mentioned previously under the section on Health and Nutrition, an ASEAN Task Force on AIDS was established to initiate a regional programme against AIDS as directed by the Fourth Summit. The Task Force held its First Meeting in Jakarta from 31 March to 2 April 1993.

Some of the highlights derived from the country reports and papers presented during the meeting include the following :

  1. The number of HIV+ and AIDS cases in each of the ASEAN Member Countries has increased steadily. By WHO estimates, there are now 2.5 million AIDS cases in the world of which about 40,000 cases are in the ASEAN region. WHO predicts that by the end of the century one million adults in Asia will become infected with HIV each year;

  2. High-level national committees/councils/bodies have been formed in ASEAN Member Countries to prepare and implement national strategies for the prevention and control of AIDS. The common features of these national strategies are AIDS prevention education campaigns (targeting both high-risk behaviour groups and the general public), surveillance. screening of national blood supply, counselling services and improvement of management, health-care and research services;

  3. Some of the problems and constraints identified are the need to establish a more accurate picture of the extent of the disease in Member Countries and in the region; differing perceptions and points of view among decision makers on the extent, impact, management and control measures to be taken; religious, cultural and social taboos and sensitivities which get in the way of education campaigns; shortage of trained manpower to deal with health education, studies and research, management and counselling of infected cases; and funding constraints.

The ASEAN Task Force on AIDS also arrived at a number of decisions and recommendations. Recognizing that the HIV/AIDS problem is not only a health issue but also covers varied and multi-sectoral concerns (e.g., education, economic, social, cultural, legal, etc.), the meeting agreed to include the participation of experts from these other sectors in the Task Force. The meeting also agreed that the Task Force be constituted as a permanent body reporting directly to COSD, rather than an ad-hoc body reporting through the ASEAN Sub-committee on Health and Nutrition. Moreover, a Five-Year Regional Programme on HIV-AIDS will be formulated based on concept papers/ proposals to be submitted by Member Countries to the ASEAN Secretariat at least three months before the next meeting of the Task Force. External funding will be sought for this purpose.