At the 10th ASEAN Summit held in November 2004, the ASEAN Leaders adopted the Vientiane Action Programme 2004-2010 (VAP) which, among others, called for the establishment of an ASEAN commission on the promotion and protection of the rights of women and children.
The ACWC has been successful in mobilising political consensus to reach an agreement on the organizational foundations of the commission. Concretely, this milestone is reflected in the Terms of Reference (TOR) of the ACWC which came into force upon the approval of the AMMSWD. Adjusting to the changing regional and global milieu as well as the realities faced by the commission, the ACWC reviewed and revised its TOR starting in 2016.