Structuring ASEAN military involvement in disaster management and the ASEAN Militaries Ready Group

This paper explores the most recent efforts by the ASEAN Defence Ministers Meeting Plus (ADMM-Plus) Experts Working Group on HADR 2017-2020 to support ASEAN’s response capacity with the development and adoption of SOPs for an ASEAN Militaries Ready Group (AMRG).

Excerpt:
It is clear from the ambitious vision of the One ASEAN, One Response declaration that ASEAN will continue to play an important role in international disaster response and even in conflict and peacekeeping. This vision is articulated in a provision of the foundation documentation for the AMRG which outlines the possibility of the AMRG to serve as a preventive or even peacekeeping mechanism in addition to being reactive towards a crisis. It remains to be seen whether this ambition will move forward.