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Author	Ms Yvette Foo
Organisation/Institution	National University of Singapore, Faculty of Law
Country	SINGAPORE
Panel	International Law
Title	Cautious, Consensus-Driven Commitment: Contextualising ASEAN’s 30-Year Evolution in Extradition Cooperation from Political Aspiration to Formal Treaty
Abstract	The long-anticipated ASEAN Treaty on Extradition (ATE) was signed on 14 November 2025, marking ASEAN’s evolving approach to criminal justice cooperation from aspirational political commitments toward legally binding obligations. It aims to eliminate jurisdictional gaps historically exploited by fugitives, strengthen regional capacity to address transnational crime, and signal ASEAN’s commitment to the rule of law. Member states needed to adapt ASEAN’s norms and legal framework to overcome ASEAN’s well-established norms of sovereignty, non interference, and consensus-based decision making to adopt the ATE and advance extradition cooperation. Consequently, this paper presents a historiography of the numerous bilateral and multilateral arrangements, meetings, and relevant ASEAN instruments that prepared the region for a binding legal treaty on extradition. Adopting a doctrinal approach, and with reference to Acharya and Tan’s seminal works on ASEAN normative and legalisation work, it studies three decades-worth of cooperation, from the 1990s to 2005, 2005 to 2015, and 2015 to 2025: each representing a heightened level of confidence within the region to engage in extradition cooperation. In doing so, the paper situates the ATE as a compelling case-study evidencing ASEAN’s increasingly progressive, but still cautious, movement toward deeper security integration. Accordingly, the ATE presents a refreshing reminder that ASEAN’s socio-political infrastructure is not immutable to recognising new emerging trends and norms that pave the way for hard law commitments within the region.
Biography	Yvette Foo (LLM, LLB) is a Research Associate at the Centre for International Law, at the National University of Singapore, and Managing Editor for CIL Dialogues. She was previously an Assistant Production Editor for the Asian Journal of International Law. Yvette's research interests include ASEAN regional integration, international criminal law, transitional justice, and international humanitarian law. She has written on ASEAN dispute settlement, the WTO dispute settlement process, and conducted research on ASEAN integration and rules-based community. In 2023, she presented a paper at the Asian Society of International Law's junior scholar workshop discussing ASEAN's crisis-driven regionalism following economic crises, from the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis, 2008 Global Financial Crisis, and COVID-19 pandemic. In 2025, she presented a working paper on Southeast Asian memorialisation and transitional justice at the 14th United Nations Colloquium at the University of Cologne.