ASEAN Regional Forum

About the committee

The ASEAN Regional Forum is the principal forum generating security dialogue, and sustaining peace and prosperity within the Asia-Pacific. Its key objectives are to foster constructive consultation on political and security issues; and make significant contributions towards confidence building and preventive diplomacy in the region. The Forum falls within the ASEAN system, bit extends beyond ASEAN member states, encompassing neighbours such as the United States and Australia, as well as other international players including the European Union and Russia.

Topics

Topic A: The question of building preventive diplomacy mechanisms

One of the key priorities of the ASEAN Regional Forum is to transform into a meaningful regional security instrument. For the last 15 years its focus has been on implementing a program of confidence building measures, the first stage of a three tiered approach to this goal. In its 2009 Vision Statement, the Forum made moves to initiate the development of the second tier - preventive diplomacy. In developing this measure there is potential to include the establishment of early warning systems, fact finding, norms building, and enhanced communication. However, as it stands there is no agreed upon regional definition of preventive diplomacy, whose principles and actions are still contentious among members of the Forum. Points of particular concern include the whether preventive diplomacy should focus on traditional or non-traditional security issues, and the question of implementing preventive deployment or demilitarised zones. While international organisations such as the UN have established some precedent, the parametres of the concept, its application and its ultimate achievement need to be focused and resolved in an ASEAN context.


Topic B: The question of more effectively addressing illegal migration in the Asia-Pacific region

Immigration is a key transnational security issue facing the Asia-Pacific. Despite increasingly tighter policies and border control, in the past decades the region has witnessed a surge in immigration, particularly illegal migration, at times encompassing asylum seeking, human trafficking, and transnational crimes. While some illegal aliens migrate for economic or social purposes, taking up low skilled jobs, oftentimes the risks are far more sinister. Illegal immigration jeopardises both the livelihoods of those migrating, through smuggling and trafficking, and citizens, via exposure to the drug trade, terrorist threats, and increased social burdens. Additionally, new challenges are emerging: rising sea levels generated by climate change will leave many Pacific Island people without homes, posing an additional pressure to immigration security. While informal exchange and legal cooperation have been important first steps in tackling these issues, there is significant room for the development of a finely coordinated regional strategy, so as to more comprehensively address existing and future problems.