GENEVA — He’s European. She’s American. He runs the U.N. migration company. She needs his job.
International Organization for Migration director-general Antonio Vitorino of Portugal faces what could possibly be a good race towards his Biden administration-backed deputy, Amy Pope, as member international locations of the Geneva-based company select its chief for the subsequent 5 years on Monday.
The election comes as migrants have been on the transfer like by no means earlier than, pushed from their properties by elements together with battle, financial misery and the rising impacts of local weather change.
The U.S. and the European Union – each main funders of IOM – are going through challenges with migration. Critics fault the EU for failing to do extra to forestall often-deadly journeys by migrants attempting to cross the Mediterranean from north Africa to Europe by boat. The U.N. refugee company and others have expressed concern about how adjustments to U.S. migration legislation will have an effect on folks attempting to cross the Mexican border into the United States.
But IOM, which counts 175 member international locations, can be grappling with mass migration crises far past – in locations as various as Bangladesh, Ukraine, Sudan and amongst Venezuela’s neighbors in Latin America.
The group has practically 19,000 staffers working in 171 international locations to advertise “humane and orderly” migration.
Its job in a lot of its 560 area places of work worldwide is to supply assist – meals, water, shelter, and assist with government-imposed paperwork – to migrants. The company additionally collects and shares huge quantities of knowledge about flows of individuals to governments, and advises them on coverage selections.
To win underneath IOM guidelines, a candidate must garner votes from two-thirds of nations that forged ballots in closed-door proceedings. Tradition has been that IOM chiefs get a second time period, however Vitorino has not lined up assist from all 27 member international locations of the European Union.
Vitorino swept into the job in 2018 after IOM member international locations rebuffed a candidate put up by the Trump administration, which pulled the U.S. out of the U.N.’s fundamental human rights physique, shunned globalism and espoused an “America First” coverage that rankled many.
Vitorino is a former EU commissioner for Home and Justice Affairs and think-tank chief, who minimize his enamel early in politics as a Portuguese Socialist, very similar to U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
Supporters credit score Vitorino with doing extra to rent and promote ladies inside IOM, enhance dialogue with African international locations and assist draw contributions that noticed its funds develop practically 20 % between 2019 and 2021, to $2.5 billion, and staffing ranges develop by practically 40 % from 2019 by final yr.
The U.S. administration has thrown its weight behind the candidacy of Pope, a former migration adviser to President Joe Biden. It is searching for to claw again the job for the U.S.: Eight of the ten IOM directors-general for the reason that company was based 72 years in the past have been American.
Pope, IOM’s deputy director for reform and administration, is vying to turn into the company’s first girl chief. She’s a former prosecutor and most of her profession was spent working for the U.S. authorities.
She has touted her function in pushing by a funds reform that drew a $75 million dedication from governments to enhance area supply and threat administration. Her backers say extra change is required to assist IOM adapt to rising migration challenges and diversify funding sources.
Under Biden, the United States has sought better engagement with the United Nations and is attempting to fit Americans into prime U.N. posts.
Last fall, Doreen Bogdan-Martin defeated a Russian rival to take the highest job on the International Telecommunications Union – succeeding its Chinese chief. This yr, Cindy McCain, the widow of former presidential hopeful John McCain, turned head of the U.N.’s World Food Program.
Both candidates for the IOM job have been ramping up journey overseas, media appearances and social-media posts in latest months. Pope jumped into the race months earlier than Vitorino, who let the suspense linger till Portugal introduced his re-election bid late final yr.
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