Outstanding ASEAN citizens and organisations that have gone the extra mile to serve, empower, and advance their communities are gaining well-deserved recognition.
Since its founding, ASEAN’s most tangible achievement has been the preservation of peace and stability that is bolstered by a strong sense of goodwill and enduring cooperation among the region’s defence establishments.
The ASEAN Agreement on Disaster Management and Emergency Response (AADMER) reflects the ASEAN Member States’ strong commitment to reduce disaster losses and respond to emergencies in the region in a collaborative manner.
The year 2020 was supposed to be the environment’s “super year,” as named by the UN Environment Programme (United Nations Environment Programme 2020: A Crunch Year for the Biodiversity and Climate Emergencies, 2019). This milestone was set way before there was any indication of a virus that would cause a global pandemic.
The ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Pollution (AATHP), signed by the ASEAN Member States in 2002, is a global model and the first regional arrangement in the world. The AATHP has played a crucial role as a primary driver of ASEAN to tackle the haze challenges in the region jointly.
The year 2020 has been a year of unprecedented events, brought on by the spread of COVID-19 across the world. The pandemic has significant impacts not only on public health and economic growth but also on the environment.
In response to the rapidly changing work landscape in the region, ASEAN’s labour sector has been working hard to ensure that people in the region, especially its youth, will be well equipped with needed skills.
Year 2020 was a year fraught with unprecedented challenges in the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet it is the throes of adversity that bring out the best in us, no better exemplified than by how ASEAN has weathered many crises and emerged even stronger and more confident together over the past decades.
Delivering quality education to prepare today’s learners for the challenges of a rapidly changing, highly globalised, and technology-driven world has been the overarching goal of ASEAN Member States for many years.
“Women are naturally nurturing and empathetic. They are intrinsically more suited to caring for children and families.” This worldview, which dominates many cultures to this day, is the epitome of gender essentialism. It appears commonsensical, but it has harmed generations of women—and society at large. It has led to exclusion, discrimination, exploitation, and inequality.
As the COVID-19 pandemic raged across the globe in 2020, nations imposed containment measures with varying success levels. For every decision to implement strict measures to help save lives, there have been devastating impacts on livelihoods and economies.
On 17 July 2020, Sean Luke Dado, his wife Hazel, their two daughters, and grandson fell ill and later tested positive for COVID-19. Another grandson was spared from the disease. In just 14 days, Sean lost his college sweetheart and wife of 29 years.
The ASEAN asked Sean questions about the unimaginable pain and loss COVID-19 caused his family. He chose to reply with a letter he wrote to his wife. Sean posts messages to Hazel on social media, sometimes sharing the mundane, happy events of the day, often talking about how the family tries to cope without her.
Hazel is one of at least 46,000 who have succumbed to COVID-19 in the ASEAN region. Sean agreed to tell his story because he says, “I think it’s important to connect faces and stories to all the numbers and statistics, so that people will remain aware that COVID-19 causes real and lasting human suffering.”
Indonesian Yudi Yastika and Filipina Riza Jurada first met on a cruise ship, Carnival Miracle, that sailed from Florida in the US to Mexico, Belize, Hawaii, Colombia, and other routes.
Riza and Yudi had been working on the cruise ship for three years before they finally met. They officially became a couple in August 2019 and it did not take long for them to decide to tie the knot.
The pandemic hit the cruise industry hard, and Riza had to fly home to Manila. Unable to work on board because of an accident, Yudi remained in Bali. Now, travel restrictions are keeping them apart, forcing them to hold off dreams of a wedding this year.
