ASEAN / IFRC Cooperation Framework Update on the signing process 10th Annual South-East Asia Red Cross Red Crescent Leaders Meeting 2013

Follow up / action points Revised letter approved at the 9th SEA RCRC Leaders Meeting was sent in September to ASEAN Secretariat Following advice from ASEAN Secretariat, letter was shared in October with Representatives of National Secretariat to ASEAN (and not CPR at this stage) Discussions held with ASEAN Secretariat at the 5th Asian Ministerial Conference on DRR. Confirmation that the review of the Draft CF was on the agenda of the next ACDM session

Follow up / Action points Invitation to the 21st session of the ACDM Meeting (9-10 January 2013 – Chieng Mai). Participation of the RDMC Chair to the meeting (APG contribution) Invitation in SEARD for a debriefing session with Adelina Kamal, Head of DM ASEAN Secretariat and Said Faisal, Director of AHA centre ( Feedback on ACDM session/ increase collaboration with AHA Centre and ACDM)

Feedback from ASEAN on comments expressed by ACDM Members on CF Changes in ASEAN Secretariat New Secretary General from Vietnam 4 new Deputy Secretary General Mrs Alice Bara from Philippine in charge of the social cultural affairs Review of the CF DM Community (ACDM – AHA) to review the technical part Committee of Permanent Representative (CPR) will also have to review the CF – Political track.

Feedback from ASEAN on comments expressed by ACDM Members on CF Once technical part fully completed, recommendations made the CF will be submitted to the CPR. Document will be shared with ASEAN Ambassadors for review and at a later stage to be shared for consultation with their Permanent Representatives Only at this stage, it will be recommended for IFRC and NS to start some advocacy work at country Permanent Representative level. Process is expected to take between 8-10 months, the political part being the longest part.

Feedback from ASEAN on comments expressed by ACDM Members on CF With the ASEAN Charter in place, legal reviews are time consuming Feedback provided on the process and challenges faced by other organizations (APG, UNESCO, ICRC, etc.) the Legal Department was recently re-structured and reinforced Review of current partnerships (APG could not review and renew its MOU. APG was proposed to move from a MOU to a Framework/Policy to be endorsed by AADMER. Cannot keep the “ASEAN” reference Review of ASEAN legal entities. Development of Guidelines under process. Possibility to explore how SEA NS could be officially recognized in the ASEAN Charter (de facto NS are ASEAN entities, but not yet included in the official list)

Feedback from ASEAN on comments expressed by ACDM Members on CF It is recommended that informal consultation continues to take place to support the improvement of the draft before it reaches the CPR and before we start doing some advocacy work at Government level. When final draft is ready Official circulation with comments to ACDM (next meeting in Hanoi in November 2013) Official circulation with CPR

Comments on Draft 6 Inclusion of Timor Leste might be problematic for CPR as TL is not yet a member. Some Members may object to it. As an alternative an article could be proposed to cover a possible amendment (conclusion of the negotiation regarding the acceptance of TL as ASEAN Member) Decision to be made by the IFRC and its Members to go for an Ad Hoc or offical recognition Art 2.2 / 2.3 Clarification should be brought on the “observer status” proposed and look at a better reciprocity in term of expectations. Both articles should be reviewed in that perspective

Comments on Draft 6 The “binding” concept is very sensitive from the ASEAN political part Article 9 - References to International and domestic laws Article 10 – Reciprocity issue in term of IFRC recognition to the ASEAN Constitution, vision, principles and other mechanisms in place Reminder of all member states being signatories of those RC Principles – Needs for more advocacy and dialogue at country but also regional level. ASEAN Meeting to position RCRC as specific pillar NDMO Representative / National platforms CPR

Advocacy Strategy to increase dialogue and a better understanding of RCRC Highlights on Same vision Membership organization Similar approach in building strong communities RCRC strengths needs to better disseminated particularly the concept of auxiliary, the cooperation Govt/RCRC at different levels (local, national but also international)

Better interaction with ASEAN DM and AHA centre (implementation of AADMER) Cooperation on the ground is increased (DM/DL/Health Review of AHA events DIREX (Thailand, April 2013) ARDEX (Vietnam Oct 2013) Reminder: in 2007 in the ASEAN Exercise in Singapore all RCRC NS were represented Presentation of Emergency and Preparedness tools . s learned)

Better interaction with ASEAN DM and AHA centre (implementation of AADMER) Sharing of NS Resources and Capacity in SEA (Assets, Volunteers, Technical expertise, Knowledge and Information Sharing: lessons learned) Nov 2013 - AADMER Partnership Conference (Hanoi) Official pledging Presentation /Case study on the gold mind of the RC / backbone of the RCRC success (P&V, image, tools)

Suggestions/ Recommendations Set up asap a small working group to look at the way to address these comments in order to go back to ASEAN Secretariat with a new draft Possibility to nominate a NS Leader to work with SEARD and join in main ASEAN events, forum representing the SEA Leaders Work on a Advocacy/Communication Plan to support Leaders to engage in a dialogue with their Government. We can learn from NS who have already done it. We are welcoming other suggestions

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