Despite its wide popularity, the Indo-Pacific remains a construct of contested interpretations. This project seeks to bring locally informed values into the spotlight of Indo-Pacific discourse by focusing on common challenges which require sustained collaboration and interactions between state and civil society actors.
The project team has conducted desk based research, focused group meetings and interviews with over 60 civil society experts including policy analysts, academics, think tankers, researchers, and journalists, as well as Track I actors from ten Indo-Pacific countries (Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, India, Philippines, Maldives, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Fiji). This helped identify local values and norms that should shape behavior of regional and extra-regional actors in the Indo-Pacific. These insights have been put together in a charter of values for the Indo Pacific region. In addition to what the project found through interactions with regional stakeholders, the charter builds on existing international rules, regimes and agreements like the United Nations Convention on the Law of Seas (UNCLOS), UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), Universal Declaration on Human Rights, and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, among others.
Still a work in progress, at present the draft charter lays out the principles, values and norms that should guide engagement on the following issue areas:
- Regional Engagement and Dispute Resolution
- Maritime Security
- Trade and Economic Connectivity
- Development Cooperation and Sustainable Development
- Climate Action
- Democratic Values in the Indo Pacific
- Human Rights and Freedoms
- Gender in Foreign Policy and Action
- Role of Civil Society in the Indo Pacific
