Geneva – Yesterday (05/09) IOM Deputy Director General Laura Thompson and the Governor of the Chungcheongnam-do Provincial Government (CPG) of the Republic of Korea, Heejung An, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) at IOM Headquarters in Geneva. The MoU aims to enhance knowledge sharing and technical cooperation on integration and inclusion of migrants in the province.

Governor An said that among the total population of 2.1 million in Chungcheongnam-do, 90,000 are migrants and most of them came for marriage, work and study opportunities. The CPG has taken a series of measures to prevent discrimination against migrants and to help them integrate into local communities including providing language training and educational support for children from multicultural families, opening the hotline to facilitate migrants’ access to medical assistance for the first time in the Republic of Korea, and creating conditions for migrants to form their own communities.  

Governor An commended IOM for its contribution to the protection of migrants’ safety and sustainable management of migration and hoped to learn good practices of other countries through IOM. 

DDG Thompson praised the efforts that Governor An and the provincial government have made to promote protection, well-being and integration of migrants. She highlighted IOM’s engagement with local authorities around the world, as illustrated by the Conference on Migrants and Cities held in 2015. She stressed IOM stands ready to leverage its expertise and experience to assist CPG in various areas of migration management and hopes this partnership can be further expanded and lead to cooperation with other provinces of Korea.

For more information, please contact Jorge Galindo at IOM HQ, Tel: +417179205, Email: jgalindo@iom.int