Outcome IDN_D_4.1

ASEAN institutions and Member States promote WPS at the regional and national levels

ASEAN member states and Institutions reaffirmed their political will to promote WPS at the regional and national levels by developing a Regional Plan of Action on WPS (RPA on WPS). ASEAN also recognized UN Women as the technical lead to develop the RPA WPS. Essentially, this was a result of the strong partnership and trust built with ASEAN over the past years. Accordingly, as requested by the WPS Advisory Group, UN Women developed a technical concept note to guide the process of developing a RPA WPS. UN Women presented the proposed approach and roadmap for developing the RPA. As requested by the WPS Advisory Group, UN Women in partnership with the ASEAN secretariat and USAID PROSPECT also reviewed and finalized the TOR of the WPS Advisory Group to expand its scope of membership and functions. The Concept Note, TOR of the Advisory Group have not been approved by ASEAN ACW and ACWC. We are witnessing a historic momentum to advance the WPS agenda in the ASEAN region. Since the beginning of 2021, Brunei took the lead as the ASEAN Chair and expressed a strong commitment to supporting the advancement of the RPA on WPS. This has been clearly announced in the Chairman Statement of the ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Retreat in January earlier this year.[1] Similarly advancing WPS agenda has been the top priority identified in the ASEAN-UN Plan of Action and the work plan in 2021. The pursuit of peace is at the heart of multilateralism and multilateral institutions such as the United Nations and ASEAN to work jointly in advancing this effort. Over the past 6 months (April to October 2021) the members of the ASEAN Commission of Women (ACW) and ASEAN Commission on the Promotion and the Protection of the Rights of Women and Children (ACWC) in the WPS advisory group reaffirmed their political will to implement the recommendations provided by a regional study on WPS and therefore validated their political support to take concrete actions to advance the WPS agenda in the region. The existing political will is reassuring and builds on achievements made by selected AMS in the past years to advance the implementation of the WPS agenda and critical lessons learned at the country level as demonstrated in the ‘ASEAN Regional Study on Women Peace and Security’[2]. In 2022 Cambodia will assume ASEAN chairmanship and has expressed a strong leadership to lead the development and launch the RPA on WPS during its chairmanship. Furthermore, as the incoming Chair of ASEAN in 2022, Prime Minister Hun Sen of Cambodia indicated in his remarks at the 38th and 39th ASEAN summits that ASEAN must prioritize addressing challenges, including geopolitical competition, transnational crime, terrorism and climate change. As the prospective ASEAN Chair, the Prime Minister of Cambodia has signaled that Cambodia will prioritize human capital development, development of an inclusive social protection system and promotion and participation of women and youth in peace-building. Similarly, Cambodia also hosted the 13th Asia-Europe Forum on Women, Peace and Security in October 2021 bringing together a wide range of partners from Europe and Asia-Pacific regions, including UN and ASEAN dialogue partners. [1] See, https://asean.org/storage/Press-Release-by-the-Chairman-of-the-ASEAN-Foreign-Ministers-Retreat-21-Jan-21-FINAL.pdf [2] ASEAN Regional Study on Women Peace and Security, 2021, ASEAN Secretariat, USAID, UN Women.

ASEAN institutions and Member States promote WPS at the regional and national levels

The promotion of Women, Peace and Security (WPS) by ASEAN institutions at the regional level is advancing. The Regional Plan of Action on Women, Peace and Security (RPA WPS) was adopted by the ASEAN Leaders during the 40th and 41st ASEAN Summits in November 2022 as a key result during the term of Cambodia as ASEAN Chair. The RPA WPS was officially launched on 5 December 2022 in Cambodia. This builds on previous regional policy frameworks and the ASEAN joint statement on WPS of 2017. ASEAN also published the RPA WPS on the ASEAN WPS website. This was launched by ASEAN in partnership with UN Women on the 5th of December 2022 ( ASEAN Regional Plan of Action on Women, Peace and Security - WPS-ASEAN ). The Minister of Women’s Affairs also noted in her speech during the launch that; “The development of the ASEAN RPA on WPS is a major step forward to fulfil ASEAN’s vision in achieving gender equality. Promoting women’s roles and participation across all realms of peace and security ranging from conflict prevention, peacebuilding, preventing violent extremism and tackling emerging security risks such as disasters and pandemics in the region is imperative to reach our goal as an inclusive and people-centred Community. ASEAN is committed to continuing to forge ahead with advancing the WPS agenda and the ASEAN RPA on WPS will guide our ways.” Related to these achievements, UN Women Indonesia contributed significantly to developing the RPA WPS by providing technical expertise to the ASEAN WPS Advisory group during the drafting process and brokering knowledge sessions on a wide range of topics that relate to the WPS agenda. UN Women also facilitated a session to share information about the process of developing a Regional Plan of Action in the Pacific region. In total, four Technical Working Groups (TWG) and two Technical briefings were facilitated by UN Women and a PROSPECT-funded USAID project for the members of the WPS Advisory group. These contributed to strengthening the capacity of the ASEAN WPS advisory group members on WPS and drafting the RPA WPS. In addition, UN Women facilitated civil society’s engagement throughout the drafting of the RPA WPS, through its partnership with the Philippine Center for Islam and Democracy (PCID) from February to December 2022. In this occasion, UN Women organized multiple consultations with CSOs, including women organizations in the region. The consultations were conducted to identify the priorities on WPS, which resulted in the RPA WPS, including provisions on Civil society participation, collaboration, and partnership with governments and ASEAN on WPS. The consultations also focused on the enhancement of youth participation in the implementation of the WPS agenda. As a critical step in ensuring broad-based representation and inputs from civil society, UN Women conducted a mapping exercise of existing CSOs in the ASEAN region, working at national and regional levels on WPS. The mapping exercise was utilized by PCID to reach out to CSOs and consult with them about the WPS priorities in the region. The CSO regional consultations were designed as a parallel process to the TWG meetings and generated a policy brief, including concrete recommendations, for presentation at the 2nd Technical briefing. H.E Kheng Samvada, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Women’s Affairs of Cambodia and representative of the ASEAN Committee on Women Cambodia appreciated the technical support provided by UN Women to facilitate the discussions that contributed to an RPA WPS that is understandable, realistic, fits the local context, and doable by all stakeholders. UN Women has also partnered and has closely coordinated with USAID funded PROSPECT project to support the drafting and consultation process contributing to the progress made to date. UNDPPO DPA also provided inputs/comments to the draft and UN Women has coordinated the support of the UN to the drafting process. In the course of this work, UN Women has successfully established a strong partnership with ASEAN, including the member of the WPS Advisory group composed of eleven sectoral bodies and institutions across the three community pillars of ASEAN, the ASEAN secretariat and the ASEAN Committee on Women (ACW) led by Cambodia. If, as expected that the implementation of the RPA WPS is successful, the RPA will advance the implementation of the WPS agenda in the region. A few ASEAN Countries, including Vietnam and Cambodia, were inspired by the RPA WPS development and adoption. They have also expressed their intentions to localize the RPA WPS by developing first-generation National Action Plans on WPS. Both Vietnam and Cambodia have already requested technical assistance from UN Women. Finally, as requested by ASEAN Member States, UN Women is providing technical assistance to localize the RPA WPS. For instance, the Government of Thailand to assess the m easures and guidelines on WPS to develop a more effective WPS policy framework. Likewise in the Philippines, UN Women is supporting the government with the formulation of the 3rd Cycle of NAP on WPS. Plans for similar interventions should integrate strong advocacy and capacity-building components from the start to ensure a smooth implementation of the Plan.

ASEAN institutions and Member States promote WPS at the regional and national levels

After the adoption by ASEAN Leaders of the first-ever Regional Plan of Action on Women Peace and Security several ASEAN Member States (AMS) including Cambodia, Thailand and Viet Nam, expressed strong interest in localizing the WPS agenda and exploring the development of a National Action Plan (NAP) on WPS which started in 2023. Indonesia finalized the monitoring and reporting framework of its second generation of its NAP on WPS with technical support from UN Women, while the Philippines adopted a new cycle of its NAP on WPS and the Regional Action Plan on WPS in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) region. The government of the Philippines published the adopted WPS policies Philippine’s 4th gen action plan on women, peace, and security launched – PeaceGovPH and its progress widely in the media. UN Women contributed significantly to developing these WPS National and local frameworks by providing technical expertise to the ASEAN Member States brokering exchange in the region and developing in partnership with ASEAN a Localisation Toolkit and Guidelines for the ASEAN Regional Plan of Action on Women, Peace and Security ( https://wps.asean.org/resources/localisation-toolkit-and-guidelines-for-the-asean-regional-plan-of-action-on-women-peace-and-security/ ) that was launched in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. This Localisation Toolkit provides technical guidance on how to facilitate the implementation of the ASEAN Regional Plan of Action on Women, Peace and Security adopted by ASEAN leaders in November 2022, by adapting its key provisions to national contexts and the steps for ASEAN Member States to develop National Action Plans on Women, Peace and Security. “Women, Peace and Security Agenda is critical for the promotion of gender equality. Advancing WPS needs more than a regional commitment. We need to develop national plans of action to ensure that the regional commitment is translated into practical actions at national and local levels. Cambodia as the lead country for the development of the ASEAN RPA on WPS and now for the WPS Localisation initiative is committed to enabling the regional commitment to become a reality for all women and girls in ASEAN,” emphasized H.E. Ing Kantha Phavi, MD, Minister of Women’s Affairs of Cambodia during the launch of the Toolkit.

ASEAN sectoral bodies, institutions and Member States, Observer State and non-state actors promote WPS, including preventing violence against women and girls at the regional and national levels

The momentum built in 2023 following the adoption of the first-ever Regional Plan of Action on Women Peace and Security (RPA WPS) delivered key advances for localization by ASEAN Member States (AMS) in 2024. During the reporting period, Timor-Leste and Viet Nam adopted their NAP WPS, while Thailand and Cambodia advanced in the development of their own. UN Women contributed significantly to developing these WPS National frameworks by providing technical expertise to the ASEAN Member States and brokering exchange in the region. In Thailand, UN Women provided technical and financial support to the Sub-Committee on Advancement and Monitoring of the Implementation of the Measure and Guideline on WPS for a workshop to refine proposed indicators, incorporate feedback and develop an initial implementation plan for the first NAP on WPS in March 2024, as well as to the meeting of the National Committee on the Promotion and Development of the Status of Women in August 2024 where the draft WPS NAP was endorsed as a key step for onward endorsing. Additionally, two key events were held in Cambodia for developing the NAP WPS, including a Consultation Workshop on the findings from the Situation Analysis on WPS on 18 December 2024, which will serve to inform the next steps of the NAP WPS. Also, in partnership with ASEAN-IPR, a three-day “NAP Academy” event was conducted in June 2024 in Bangkok to align NAPs with the ASEAN RPA on WPS by leveraging regional experiences and global best practices to develop sustainable and comprehensive national frameworks. “Thanks to NAP Academy, now, our determination to improve the National Action Plan is even stronger. We want to truly implement the WPS agenda encompassing disaster, climate change, terrorism, human-trafficking and cyber security,” expressed the Assistant Deputy Minister of Disaster Mitigation and Social Conflict, Coordinating Ministry of Human Development and Cultural Affairs of Indonesia.