The ASEAN People’s Assembly (APA) is a forum organized by the ASEAN Institutes of Strategic and International Studies (ASEAN ISIS) since 2000 to enable dialogue and confidence building between governments, think tanks, and civil society groups in ASEAN on a range of political, economic, security, and social-cultural issues that affect the peoples and communities of Southeast Asia.  APA has been recognized by ASEAN in the Vientiane Action Programme in 2004 as an important consultative mechanism for developing more people-oriented policies among ASEAN governments. 

 

The Fifth ASEAN People’s Assembly will be hosted by the Institute for Strategic and Development Studies (ISDS) in behalf of the ASEAN ISIS.  Some 300 participants from Southeast Asia and outside the region will discuss issues and problems around the theme “The Role of the People in Building an ASEAN Community of Caring and Sharing Societies”.    Plenary and panel sessions include: terrorism, peace and social conflict, media and press freedom in Southeast Asia, democratization in Southeast Asia, labor migration, humanitarian intervention, human development and poverty, and security sector reform, among others.

 

APA 2006 is supported by the Foundation Open Society Institute, the Canadian International Development Agency, the Japan International Cooperation Agency, Konrad Adenauer Stiftung,  Sasakawa Peace Foundation, The Asia Foundation, and the ASEAN Secretariat.

View ASEAN and Civil Society: Enhancing Regional Mechanisms for Managing Security* by Mely Caballero-Anthony

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*Chapter VII of Twenty-Two Years of ASEAN-ISIS: Origin, Evolution, and Challenges of Track Two Diplomacy, edited by Hadi Soesastro, Clara Joewono and Carolina G. Hernandez (Jakarta: Centre for Strategic and International Studies for ASEAN-ISIS, 2006)