“International Organization for Migration chooses new leader: Will it be Portugal’s Antonio Vitorino or America’s Amy Pope?”

After months of a deaf and acrimonious campaign, the member countries of the International Organization for Migration meet in Geneva on Monday to decide whether its current Portuguese chief or its American deputy will take the reins of this agency with a crucial role.

The 175 member states of the IOM will vote by secret ballot to appoint former minister Antonio Vitorino for a second term or prefer his deputy Amy Pope.

This is an important position in the current context.

The organization, which was founded in 1951 but only became a United Nations agency seven years ago, is the leading international player on migration and with a growing budget.

The world had around 281 million migrants in 2020.

The long campaign to become director general of the IOM has driven a wedge between Europeans and the United States, which has campaigned all over the place to regain the traditionally American post, according to observers.

“It seems to have caused some diplomatic consternation,” Megan Bradley, a professor at McGill University in Montreal and an IOM specialist, told AFP.

– Choc –

It is customary to grant a second mandate to a head of a UN agency who so wishes.

And when Amy Pope announced her candidacy in October, “it was a bit of a shock”, admits to AFP a European diplomat in Geneva, on condition of anonymity. “It was not seen as a friendly decision”, he stressed, lamenting a battle which gave “the wrong signal” at a time when the United States and Europeans “must show a united front”. on the world stage.

Antonio Vitorino, 66-year-old Portuguese former defense minister and deputy prime minister, has no intention of giving way.

“All my predecessors for 70 years have served two terms, and I see no reason why a successful first term should not be followed by a second term,” he told AFP in March.

But Amy Pope, 49, who if elected would be the first woman to lead the organization, believes the stakes are too high to simply stick to the status quo. According to her, she has the vision to bring IOM “into the 21st century”.

– Tradition against tradition –

If a second term is the custom, the United States is keen to uphold the “long-standing tradition of having its candidate for the post of director general”, notes academic Megan Bradley.

Amy Pope has a long career in migration and disaster management, particularly under Barack Obama, and support at the highest level.

President Joe Biden said on Wednesday he knew from working with her directly that she could “effectively mobilize IOM and its members to respond to the growing challenges of migration.”

“He’s the right person for the job,” asserted the president, crowning an extremely visible campaign of support for American diplomacy.

For Megan Bradley, the increasing importance of the IOM in the face of the explosion in the number of migrants, particularly due to climate change, “makes it all the more important for the United States to try to reassert its traditional grip on the head of the organization”.

– Tight race –

Antonio Vitorino took over the reins of IOM in 2018, becoming only the second non-American to lead the organization.

He won by acclaim after member states pushed back against Donald Trump’s nominee accused of anti-Muslim bigotry and climate change denial.

Antonio Vitorino has done a good job, observers say, leading the growing organization, which now has nearly 19,000 employees and has seen its budget nearly double since 2018 to nearly $3 billion l last year.

He enjoys particularly strong support from European countries who are grateful to him for “a very solid first term”, according to the European diplomat. “It will be a tight race,” he said.