A/HRC/29/46/Add.1 person in their management agency who can speak their language, this person did not report problems to the authorities but took sides with the vessel owner. In port cities, local authorities often have a close relationship with vessel owners, which results in foreign seafarers who report abuse being penalized by the authorities. D. Marriage migrants 47. Men from the Republic of Korea began to marry foreign women in the 1990s and the phenomenon has rapidly increased since 2000, when commercialized marriage brokers were first allowed to facilitate this new type of marriage. These brokers would recruit men from the Republic of Korea who would visit other Asian countries to meet potential brides. Within two weeks, they would meet women and get married to the woman they chose. The men would be liable for all or the majority of the costs of the process. It is estimated that around 20,000 couples get married every year as part of these arrangements; approximately around 1 out of 10 marriages concluded in the Republic of Korea. 48. The Special Rapporteur was informed of the numerous efforts made by the Government to support multicultural families and, in particular, the comprehensive assistance for integrating marriage migrants (persons who migrate to the Republic of Korea by marrying a national of that country) and their children as full members of society. Numerous services for multicultural families have been made available, such as the multicultural families support centres throughout the country, which offer language classes and counselling to both spouses and help marriage migrants and their children to settle and integrate into society. However, the policy for multicultural families is in the vast majority of cases applied to foreign women who marry men from the Republic of Korea and not vice versa. The legal definition of these marriages does not extend to the marriage of two migrant workers. 49. Moreover, the Multicultural Families Support Act narrowly defines the multicultural family as: (a) a family composed of a marriage migrant and a citizen of the Republic of Korea who acquired citizenship at birth; and (b) a family composed of a naturalized citizen and a citizen of the Republic of Korea who acquired citizenship at birth. It does not include in its definition other types of migrant families, such as the families of migrant workers or ethnic Korean families from China, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and Central Asian countries. 50. The Special Rapporteur has also been informed that, since 2011, men from the Republic of Korea who plan to marry a foreign spouse from certain countries are required to attend an international marriage orientation programme. The Minister of Justice announced the countries concerned as Cambodia, China, Mongolia, the Philippines, Thailand, Uzbekistan and Viet Nam. According to the Ministry of Justice, those countries were targeted because the statistics showed a higher rate of divorce and naturalization in a marriage when one spouse was from one of those countries. Thus, immigrants from those countries are allowed to apply for a marriage visa only when their spouses from the Republic of Korea take the international marriage orientation programme. 51. Similarly, the concept of multicultural families as currently interpreted and applied has some limitations and has been used in the media to convey negative connotations of marriage migrants and foreign workers from South-East Asia. 52. The Special Rapporteur was informed that, on 5 April 2011, the Government had added article 25-2 to the Immigration Act. In accordance with that article, relating to special rules applicable to marriage migrants, marriage migrants who are allegedly abused by their spouses from the Republic of Korea may be granted an extension of stay until a remedy process, including a pending court trial, an investigation by law enforcement 12