Washington alienates the EU
USA wants to saw off head of UN organization
05/15/2023, 11:18 am
The UN Organization for Migration has usually been headed by an American for the past few decades. In 2018, however, President Donald Trump’s candidate failed. Now Washington wants to sideline the current incumbent by contest vote.
When it came to filling the top post at the UN Organization for Migration (IOM), the USA abandoned diplomatic practices and snubbed the EU: Completely unusual, they forced a fight vote in which a US candidate is to overthrow the Portuguese IOM boss Antonio Vitorino. It is his previous deputy, Amy Pope. The 175 member countries began secret voting in Geneva. It wins who gets two-thirds of the votes. If there are several rounds of voting, the procedure will drag on until Tuesday.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken campaigned for Pope to “revitalize the organization”. However, Vitorino’s work is unanimously praised in diplomatic circles. He modernized the organization and managed it well. Usually in such cases incumbents are confirmed by acclamation for a second term.
However, the USA suffered a bitter defeat in 2018. In the more than 70-year history of the IOM and its predecessors, the top positions were occupied almost without exception by the largest donor: the USA. But then-US President Donald Trump’s candidate failed in the 2018 election. Ken Isaacs, who has worked as a missionary for a long time, used to be critical of Islam on social networks and cast doubt on man-made climate change.
The IOM takes care of migrants. It has 19,000 employees and offices in 171 countries. Among other things, she helps stranded people return home and advises governments on how to deal with migrants. It maintains a data center in Berlin that keeps statistics on lost and missing migrants around the world.