Seoul – With an estimated 65 million people forcibly displaced worldwide due to conflicts and natural disasters, humanitarian workers from the Republic of Korea (ROK) are increasingly being deployed for the first time to work in emergencies overseas.

“Today, there are now about 900 Korean aid workers involved in humanitarian assistance overseas,” said IOM ROK Head of Office Miah Park. “In order to be effective, they need to fully understand the basic principles of international protection as they relate to affected populations.”

IOM Korea, with funding from the Office of US Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA), last week (15-17/11) hosted a three-day training – Protection Portfolio in Crisis – for 30 humanitarian workers from Seoul-based NGOs.

The training, conducted by specialists from the UN Migration Agency’s Geneva headquarters and it Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific in Bangkok, addressed key protection concepts and policies, including IOM’s Migration Crisis Operational Framework (MCOF.)

Other topics included the prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse; tools to reduce the risk of human trafficking in crisis situations; and the role of the protection cluster in combating gender-based violence and providing child protection in emergencies.

“Protection is a part of IOM’s core mandate. We need to ensure protection for the most vulnerable and respond to their needs,” said IOM Migrant Assistance Division Head Anh Nguyen. “We hope this training will help Korean humanitarian workers to integrate protection principles into all their field operations,” he noted.”

The training was one of a series of capacity building trainings for NGOs organized by IOM ROK with financial support from OFDA.

For more information, please contact Miah Park at IOM ROK, Tel: +82 70 4820 2781, Email: mipark@iom.int