Gyeonggi Province, the Multicultural Family-friendly Province

Createdd 2012-12-31 Hit 586

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Gyeonggi Province, the Multicultural Family-friendly Province
(Published December 18, 2012)
 

Gyeonggi Province’s Family and Women’s Bureau hires three married immigrants

Multicultural family and immigration issues will be addressed by those with personal experience.

1.jpg Images

◇ This photo was taken during the National Multicultural Family Festival this September ⓒ G-News Plus

Gyeonggi Province’s Family and Women’s Bureau hired three married immigrants to help address immigrant and multicultural household related issues.
 

Because of the rising incidents related to immigrant woman in multicultural families and the constant rise of marriages between Korean men and immigrant women, the district hired Hou Hong Yan (China),Won Hui-yeong (Vietnam), and Angheutoya (Mongolia), all of whom immigrated to Korea. The women will work on the front lines as part-time civil servants.

The women will attend meetings with multicultural families, immigrant women, and supporters at least twice a week to directly address immediate issues.
 

There are a number of immigrant communities in Gyeonggi Province with a total of 165 registered support groups (11 Chinese, 11 Vietnamese, 6 Mongolian, 15 Filipino, 7 Cambodian, 5 Japanese, and 110 others).

 

The local government will establish and manage a province-wide immigrant community network to strengthen ties between the support groups for married immigrants and to promote sharing of useful information.

 

Furthermore the government seeks to find accomplished leaders in the communities to help reach a larger public and engage the opinions of more married immigrants in order to maximize project efficiency.

 

The Family and Women’s Bureau will begin its support initiative in 2013 in order to provide good care for multicultural families living in the districts and help more married immigrants via the support centers.

 

The support for multicultural families has suffered since the enforcement of stronger personal information security laws. Married immigrants can only be tracked by their name, date of birth, nationality, and address, making it more difficult to track multinational families in need of support. It is also notable that the multinational family support center has a mere 18.1% user rate compared to a 25% rate nationwide.

 

Gyeonggi Province’s Family and Women’s Bureau is expecting the multicultural family supporters project of 2013 to boost the involvement of married immigrants in improving related policies. Integrating newlyweds and multicultural family issues will be the focal points.

The local government is recruiting 545 individuals for the project, or one married immigrant per eup, myeon, and dong. So far, 517 volunteers have joined so far. The supporters will be part of the project for two years. The appointment ceremony will be on December 27 at the Regional Administration Training Center’s auditorium.

2.jpg Images◇ Photo from the Multicultural Family Chorus Contest this June. ⓒ G-News Plus / Yu Je-hun

An official at the Family and Women’s Bureau of Gyeonggi Province said, “This project is a very timely one when an increased number of married immigrants are settling in the province. Our goal is to legislate more policies for our new residents and keep a close watch on their rights as we help them adjust to their new home. We will carefully monitor the workplace with civil activists and get a realistic look into their lives. Educating Koreans and foreigners on their rights in order to prevent abuse is also one of our goals.”

He also added, “Having married immigrants become advocates and directly handle the issues is expected to speed up the resolution process and build a strong community network.”

According to statistics from February of this year, the number of foreign residents has reached 424,946, an 11.6% rise from last year. Gyeonggi Province is home to 30% of all foreign residents living in Korea. The number of married immigrants equals 38,953, a 3.8% rise from last year, while the number of foreign children as residents rose 12.9% to 42,365.
 

The increase was especially noticeable in the number of foreign workers with an increase of 49.4%. In second came married immigrants at 9.1%, naturalized married immigrants at 5.3%, foreign immigrant children at 10%, overseas Koreans at 9.9%, and foreign students at 2.4%.

 

The following cities have seen an increase in foreign residents – most notable are Ansan by 19.1%, Suwon by 13.7%, Hwaseong by 8.6%, Seongnam by 9.9%, Sihueng by 23.3%, Bucheon by 13.9%, Yongin by 8.5%, and Goyang by 9.5%.

Numbers show the highest number in Chinese immigrants at 59.3%, followed by Vietnamese (9.2%), Filipino (4.3%), and American (3.9%).

The Family and Women’s Bureau of Gyeonggi Province has offered Korean classes to 7,606 students, interpreted and translated for 16,714 events, and offered legal advice to 241 foreign residents. The local government also offered private tutoring to 2,046 young multicultural family members to improve basic knowledge, support 194 adopted children from foreign countries, provided language development and education for 1,317 students, and offered bilingual services for 721 foreign residents.
 

In addition, the multicultural awareness program (educational classes, singing concerts, Korean and bilingual speech competitions for multicultural married people and their extended families) was held with great success. Of those who participated, 3,064 people completed the Korea acclimatization program, while 4,342 people received general support such as legal counseling, and 1,235 people applied for job training. The local government carried out 3,208 programs for Koreans to raise awareness on human rights and improve multicultural awareness.3.jpg Images◇ Photo from National Multicultural Family Support Network Contest this September. ⓒ G-News Plus / Heo Seon-ryang

ⓒ G-News Plus News / Im Se-jeen sejeenee@kg21.net
 
http://gnews.gg.go.kr/news/news_detail.asp?number=201212181552187055C048&s_code=C048

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