Seoul – The International Organization for Migration (IOM) Mission in the Republic of Korea (ROK), with support from the Bureau of Humanitarian Assistance (BHA) of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and in partnership with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Mission in Seoul, hosted a webinar on the Ukrainian Crisis and the International Humanitarian Law (IHL) on 19 July 2022.

A total of 95 humanitarian practitioners, including Non-Governmental Organization personnel, government officials, academics and United Nations staff, as well as the general public, joined the discussion.

More than 100 days have passed since the eruption of war in Ukraine. There have been continuous reports of intensified strikes on schools, hospitals as well as residential buildings whose civilians bear the brunt of the consequences.

Teuta Grazhdani, Head of Policy, Liaison and Programme Development Unit of IOM Ukraine, opened the webinar by providing an overview of the current humanitarian situation in the country. David Michael Maizlish, the head of the ICRC Mission in Seoul and Jun-Ki Lee, ICRC Seoul Legal Advisor, presented on the IHL in the context of Ukraine, the protection of civilians in an armed conflict.

The webinar concludes with a live question and answer session whereby attendees could ask questions directly to the presenters and gain additional knowledge on IHL as well as the ongoing situation in Ukraine.

Organized as part of a quarterly webinar series that offers virtual knowledge-sharing sessions to introduce a wide range of topics in humanitarian assistance, including best practices and innovative ideas to ROK humanitarian professionals since 2014 with funding support from USAID BHA, IOM ROK has taken an essential role in providing a wide range of capacity-building support for ROK humanitarian actors. This initiative aims to enhance regional and local capacities for emergency response and increase coordination between relevant actors including NGOs and international donor agencies accordingly.

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For more information, please contact Eunice Jieun KIM, IOM Republic of Korea, Tel.: +82 70 4820 0291, Email: jikim@iom.int.