Culture of Prevention (CoP) adopts a cross-sectoral and whole-of-ASEAN approach to promote ASEAN's shared values of tolerance, mutual understanding and respect for life and diversity. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was established on 8 August 1967.
Salminen and Lee (2014) in their review of the literature seeking a definition of ‘culture of prevention’ concluded that there “is no generally accepted definition of this concept” and as the concept has not been operationalized that it is not a “scientific concept” but is more ‘an umbrella concept for improvement measures’. However, The Association of Southeast Asian Nations in 2017 in its Declaration on Culture of Prevention for a Peaceful, Inclusive, Resilient, Healthy and Harmonious Society stated that promotion of a culture of prevention focused on:
“understanding the root causes and consequences of violent extremism and other forms of violence and deviant behaviors at individual, organizational and institutional levels through risk assessment, research, forecast, early warning and other evidence-based methods; adopting a mindset change from a reactive to a preventive approach; inculcating share values such as peace, harmony, intercultural understanding, the rule of law, good governance, respect, trust, tolerance, inclusiveness, moderation, social responsibility, and diversity; and, developing effective upstream preventive policies and initiatives such as transformative social protection, public information, responsible use of media, as well as strengthening the existing values-based education in schools and institutions.”