In the photo (L-R) Ms. Mariko Tomiyama (IOM Senior Regional Policy and Liaison Officer), Permanent Representative of the Philippines to ASEAN, H.E. Elizabeth P. Buensuceso, Ms. Maria Nenette Motus, M.D. (IOM Regional Director) and Ms. Yumi Ohtsuki (ASEAN Affairs Officer) at the Philippine Mission to ASEAN.
16 July 2018 – Representatives of the International Organization for Migration (IOM, led by Regional Director Maria Nenette Motus, M.D., paid a courtesy call on H.E. Elizabeth P. Buensuceso, Permanent Representative of the Philippines to ASEAN, and discussed ways to strengthen cooperation between ASEAN and the IOM.
IOM commended the Philippines for its steadfast commitment and unwavering leadership in ASEAN on all aspects of migration, and highlighted the importance of the ASEAN Consensus on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights of Migrant Workers, signed by ASEAN Leaders at the 31st ASEAN Summit during the Philippines’ Chairmanship of ASEAN in November 2017.
Ambassador Buensuceso encouraged IOM to work with ASEAN Member States at a multilateral level, and to further deepen its working relationship with the ASEAN Secretariat and the various ASEAN sectoral bodies. Ambassador Buensuceso also underscored that IOM’s focus areas are spread out across all three pillars of the ASEAN Community, namely the Political Security, Socio-Cultural, and Economic Pillar necessitating that their engagement with ASEAN is cast as wide as possible. The meeting discussed several entry points for ASEAN-IOM possible cooperation in the following areas: safe and ethical recruitment, migrant’s health, economic empowerment of migrant workers, migrant protection, emergency response, climate change adaptation, skills development, border management and reintegration. As a concrete example, Ambassador Buensuceso cited possible cooperation between ASEAN and IOM on the pyscho-social issues of reintegration within a peace-building/post-conflict context, which could be done by engaging entities such as the ASEAN Institute for Peace and Reconciliation (ASEAN-IPR.)
IOM, the UN Agency for Migration, is an inter-governmental organization and was established in 1951. It has a presence in 8, out of ten, ASEAN Member States.
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