IR Binus Encounter with the Refugees through The May 18 Academy, Gwangju

The May 18 Academy, Gwangju – South Korea, 22 August – 4 September 2019

Our Deputy Head, Ms. Ratu Ayu Asih Kusuma Putri, participated in the May 18 Academy in Gwangju, South Korea from August 22 to September 4, 2019. The May 18 Academy is an intensive educational program for human rights and democracy activists from all around the world.

Since its inception in 2004, over 310 NGO workers and activists from over 50 countries participated in and graduated the program. This year, the May 18 Foundation selected only 15 invitees from hundreds of applicants to learn and share about refugee issues/problems and their possible solutions.

Throughout the training, she has gotten a first-hand experience in interacting with current and former refugees as well as refugee and human rights activists in Korea and from all around the world. She also visited a Yemeni restaurant in Jeju island run by a refugee and learned about refugee self-empowerment effort in host countries. Aside from that, the program provided a significant amount of knowledge about the history of democratization in South Korea, which was interesting as it is startlingly similar to the one experienced by Indonesia.