Amy Pope, currently the deputy director general of the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), has been elected as the next director general of the agency, marking a first for a woman to lead the Geneva-based organization. Pope, a US citizen, will assume her five-year term on October 1, 2023.
Pope’s election is significant, as she ran against her current boss, Antonio Vitorino, a Portuguese national, in a rare contest between allies. The US government, which strongly supported Pope’s candidacy, welcomed the news. In a statement, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said, “Ms Pope’s election reflects a broad endorsement by member states of her vision to keep people at the heart of IOM’s mission, while implementing key governance and budget reforms to ensure IOM is prepared to meet the challenges it faces.”
This is not the first time the US has held a prominent position within the IOM. Eight of the 10 directors general since the agency’s founding in 1951 have been American. Vitorino, a former Portuguese government minister, took over the role in 2018 after IOM member countries rejected a candidate put forward by the Trump administration.
Amy Pope (Via Amy Pope/Twitter)
The IOM, a UN migration agency, has nearly 19,000 staff members in 171 countries who provide vital services such as food, water, shelter, and paperwork assistance to migrants. The agency also responds to mass migration crises in various regions, including the US-Mexico border, the central Mediterranean, Bangladesh, Ukraine, and Sudan.
Pope’s election comes at a time when the IOM is facing numerous challenges. As the new director general, she will be expected to implement governance and budget reforms to enable the agency to respond effectively to these challenges. Despite the competition between Obama and Vitorino, both allies, Pope’s election reflects a broader endorsement by member states of her vision for the IOM.
