Phnom Penh Declaration of the SEA Youth

Phnom Penh Declaration
of the
South East Asian Youth

Phnom Penh, 20 October 2005

We the delegates of the Youth from Negara Brunei Darussalam, the Kingdom of Cambodia, the Republic of Indonesia, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Malaysia, the Union of Myanmar, the Republic of the Philippines, the Republic of Singapore, the Kingdom of Thailand, and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam to the recently-concluded Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) Campus Journalists/Leaders Exchange Programme Phase I by the ASEAN Committee on Culture and Information (COCI), as ambassadors of our own nations’ Youth:

RECOGNIZING the achievements gained by the ASEAN towards its goals of Peace, Prosperity, People, and Participation for the South East Asian region;

AFFIRMING the need for widespread information dissemination and promotion of the ASEAN within its own member countries and to the international community;

UNDERSTANDING the ASEAN Youth to be composed of individuals aged sixteen to thirty years old who are citizens of ASEAN member countries regardless of color, race, gender, religion, language, physical ability, financial stature, and civil status;

AWARE of the untapped potentials of the youth in national and regional development now and in the future as catalysts of change;

SEEKING a united and visionary ASEAN Youth with a sense of belonging, and is vocal, proactive, socially and culturally aware;

DO HEREBY DECLARE:

FIRST, the establishment of a body for coordination, communication, and networking among the Youth of ASEAN member nations, to be known as the ASEAN Youth Network (AYN).

SECOND, that the mission of the network shall be to enthuse ASEAN youth to participate in sharing ideas and resolving common regional youth concerns for a stronger ASEAN Youth community.

THIRD, that to carry out this mission, the following machinery shall be established:

(a) A Plenary composed of two youth delegates per country whose members shall have a term of one year, the annual meeting of which shall be by rotation and referred to as the Annual Plenary Report. Special meetings may be convened as required. It shall be the highest policy-making body of the network, presided over and coordinated by a Chairperson.

(b) Ad-Hoc Committees on specific subjects as the Plenary may so constitute in response to the needs of the times. They shall implement the plans of the Plenary in between Annual Plenary Reports. Initially, there shall be Ad-Hoc Committees on Information, Electronic Media (E), Administration, Secretariat, and Arts and Culture.

(c) A National Secretariat in each member country to carry out the work of the Network on behalf of that country and – in coordination with the appropriate ASEAN entity – to service the Annual or Special Meetings of the Plenary and the Ad-Hoc Committees as may hereafter be established. The National Secretariat shall have as its members Youth formations within its country and will be Co-Chaired by the country’s two delegates to the Plenary.

FOURTH, that the Network is open for and shall seek the participation of youth formations in the ASEAN member countries subscribing to the aforementioned mission.

FIFTH, that the Network represents the collective will of the Youth of South-East Asia to have a unified voice, greater participation, and be more aware regarding the affairs of the ASEAN.

DONE in Phnom Penh, Kingdom of Cambodia on the Twentieth Day of October in the Year Two Thousand and Five.

(SGD) ASEAN Campus Journalists and Leaders