Seoul – The International Organization for Migration (IOM) Mission in the Republic of Korea (ROK), in partnership with the Bureau of Humanitarian Assistance (BHA) of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), hosted a webinar on the current migration situation in North Africa and across the Mediterranean on 8 June 2023. The webinar, aimed at humanitarian practitioners and the general public in the ROK, was attended by 53 NGO workers, academia, and government officials.

Led by Asfand Waqar, programme coordinator for data management at IOM Libya, the webinar provided an essential learning opportunity by introducing situation overview of the mixed migration and displacement in the region, drivers of movement, and North African country perspectives with relevant data and figures. 

Additionally, the speaker introduced core interventions and strategies in the region, including Migrant Resource and Response Mechanisms (MRRM) and Assisted Voluntary Return and Reintegration (AVRR).  

“Migration to, within, and from North Africa, especially mixed migration across the Central Mediterranean Route (CMR), forms an important part of the global migration trends that increasingly demonstrates the complexity of human mobility in the first quarter of 21st Century,” said Waqar.

“Understanding such complex migration routes and trends via the use of quality data and research is critical for IOM, as well as its member states, in creating meaningful and sustainable migration solutions.” 

The webinar was a part of quarterly knowledge-sharing series which aims to enhance preparedness and response capacity of the ROK humanitarian professionals to natural and human-caused disasters. It was particularly designed to raise awareness of the migration situation and IOM’s flagship interventions in North Africa and across the Mediterranean to a wider range of stakeholders in the ROK.

Since 2014, IOM ROK has taken an essential role in providing a wide range of capacity-building support for the ROK humanitarian actors with funding support from the BHA of the USAID. 

*** 

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