Bangkok – The International Organization for Migration (IOM) Mission in the Republic of Korea (ROK) and IOM Regional Office for Asia-Pacific (ROAP) successfully organized a training on ‘Humane and Gender Inclusive Immigration and Border Management Capacity-building Support for ASEAN Countries’ in Bangkok, Thailand for immigration and border management officials from Indonesia, Cambodia, Malaysia, Vietnam, and Thailand.

The Year One training kicked off with a  Legal Identity Masterclass from 5 to 6 December 2022, where IOM experts from the International Border Management (IBM) Division, Nelson Goncalves, Head of Legal Identity Unit,  and Laura Scorretti, Senior Regional IBM Specialist, offered a unique series of training sessions, covering topics such as improving civil registration systems, the operationalization of legal identity , cross-border verification of issued civil registration certificates, and legal identity of irregular migrants.

Experiences on legal identity in Iraq and Mozambique were also shared by Giorgia Rega, Readmission and Legal Identity Capacity (RELICA) Programme Manager, IOM Denmark and Giacomo Dei Rossi, IBM Programme Manager, IOM Mozambique to encourage active discussions among the participants.

“There are more than 1.2 billion people around the world without proof of legal identity, and it means they do not have access to basic human rights: they cannot go to school, cannot travel, cross the borders or have regular work, which makes them extremely vulnerable to Human Trafficking”, said Nelson Goncalves, Head of Legal Identity Unit, the International Border Management (IBM) Division. “But possessing legal identity is important not only for people, but for the governments to know how many people live inside the country, who they are and what they do. Thus, we all should work together to fill in this gap for the benefit of everybody”, he added.

The program is funded by the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) to support capacity development of officials from selected ASEAN member states to ensure human rights of all persons, including those who cross borders in irregular manners and particularly women at international borders, are respected and protected.

Following the Legal Identity Masterclass, attendees participated in the ‘6th Border Management and Identity Conference (BMIC) on Technical Cooperation and Capacity Building’, organized by IOM and the Asia Pacific Smart Card Association (APSCA) from 7 to 9 December 2022, which is an integral component of Year One training.

The 6th BMIC, Asia’s largest gathering focused on identity and border management, provided an opportunity for attendees, government authorities, and other relevant stakeholders to exchange new developments, best practices and lessons learned in the context of emerging global trends. The conference offered four technical workshops on topics such as integrating climatic risks into analysis of and preparation for cross-border population displacement, the role of border management in preparing for major disruptions, innovative solutions to issues and processes involving immunity travel documents and strengthening border technology against cyber-attacks and technical disruptions.

With the successful beginning of capacity development of immigration and border management officials from ASEAN member states, IOM will continue to serve as the key resource for ASEAN member states to promote orderly and humane border management, to better protect human rights of migrants, and to promote gender mainstreaming at all levels of border security and immigration.

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