Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict (GPPAC) – Southeast Asia led by regional initiator Gus Miclat with RSG representatives Muhadi Sugiono, Indonesia national co-initiator and Chalida Tajaroensuk, Thailand national co-initiator and Carmen Lauzon of the secretariat held an audience with the ASEAN Secretary General Ong Keng Yong on March 27 at the Hyatt Hotel in Manila. The occasion was also the holding of the High Level Task Force (HLTF) on ASEAN Charter dialogue with civil society organizations.
{mosimage}Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict (GPPAC) – Southeast Asia led by regional initiator Gus Miclat with RSG representatives Muhadi Sugiono, Indonesia national co-initiator and Chalida Tajaroensuk, Thailand national co-initiator and Carmen Lauzon of the secretariat held an audience with the ASEAN Secretary General Ong Keng Yong on March 27 at the Hyatt Hotel in Manila. The occasion was also the holding of the High Level Task Force (HLTF) on ASEAN Charter dialogue with civil society organizations.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations or ASEAN is in the process of formalizing the regional organization by coming up with a charter to be approved by the member states in its next summit in November 2007 in Singapore. Following the mandate of the Eminent Persons Group on ASEAN Charter which was tasked to draft the framework of the charter, the High Level Task Force was formed to complete the drafting of the charter. The HLTF is a 10-member task forced chaired by Philippines’ Ambassador Rosario Manalo. In its first and maybe the last dialogue-consultation with members of ASEAN civil society organizations held in Manila recently, inputs and proposals for inclusions to the charter have been put forward to the HLTF panel en banc.
GPPAC-SEA was also a participant of the HLTF dialogue-consultation where it provided inputs specifically on peacebuilding and conflict prevention in ASEAN. Immediately after the said consultation, GPPAC-SEA held a side meeting with the ASEAN Secretary-General. The meeting which lasted for about 20 minutes served as an opportunity for GPPAC-SEA to formally submit to the ASEAN Secretariat its proposal for an ASEAN conflict prevention mechanism. The proposal for the creation of regional prevention policies and institution specifies ”Institutionalizing Conflict Prevention Mechanism in the ASEAN Charter” which was built on the recommendation of the Eminent Persons Group to establish a Dispute Settlement Mechanism within ASEAN. GPPAC-SEA proposes that the concept of developing a Dispute Settlement Mechanism (DSM) be expanded into a Dispute Prevention and Settlement Mechanism (DPSM) to emphasize the need for conflict prevention mechanism in the region and to make this mechanism more inclusive and participatory by involving all stakeholders in conflict and peacebuilding, including civil society and non-state actors.
In the meeting with SG Ong Keng Yong, it was agreed that another round of meeting to further discuss the GPPAC proposal will be undertaken with the entire GPPAC-SEA Regional Steering Group which will be held in the ASEAN Secretariat offices in Jakarta within the next couple of months.
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