The U.N.'s migration agency snubbed the Trump administration's candidate to lead it on Friday, a major blow to U.S. leadership of a body addressing one of the world's most pressing issues — and only the second time that it won't be run by an American since 1951.

Portuguese Socialist and former European Union commissioner Antonio Vitorino won an election to be the next director-general of the International Organization for Migration, edging out both a top IOM official and U.S. candidate Ken Isaacs, the body said in a statement.

Vitorino, 61, will become the group's second director-general not from the U.S. since the intergovernmental organization was founded. He is a former EU commissioner for Home and Justice Affairs who has been President of the "Notre Europe" think tank for the last seven years, and is considered very close to U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, also a Portuguese Socialist early in his political career.

Isaacs was eliminated in early rounds of voting, and Vitorino won by acclimation over runner-up Laura Thompson of Costa Rica, currently an IOM deputy director-general who was vying to become the agency's first woman chief.

The move marks a searing rejection of the U.S. candidate just as the Trump administration has been retreating from or rebuffing international institutions — including two others based in Geneva: Earlier this month, the United States pulled out of the U.N.'s Human Rights Council, and Trump has recently criticized the World Trade Organization as "unfair" to the U.S.

"Yet another sign that US power, authority and prestige has been so dramatically diminished," tweeted Keith Harper, who was the Obama administration's ambassador to the rights council. The "IOM Director is seen as an 'American seat' and Trump was unable to place an American in it."

Isaacs' candidacy had been clouded by U.S. policies like travel bans and migrant family separations — and his own comments that critics have called anti-Muslim. But few diplomats streaming out of a Geneva conference center dared to offer an explanation about how an American was stripped of a post that the U.S. has held a lock-hold on for decades.

One, Senegalese diplomat Youssoupha Ndiaye, simply spoke of the early result: "The American is out." Two other diplomats confirmed that, as well as the two-person race remaining between Vitorino and Thompson, as delegates broke for lunch. The two spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to release the information publicly.

The winner, who will be determined by dues-paying, ballot-casting members among the 172 countries in the IOM, will succeed longtime U.S. diplomat William Lacy Swing, who leaves in September. IOM officials declined to confirm the result until voting was finished.

An intergovernmental body that became a U.N.-related agency in 2016, IOM has had only one director-general who wasn't American since its creation 67 years ago.

But Mark Hetfield, a self-described friend of Isaacs who heads the humanitarian group HIAS, which works with IOM, put the blame on policies and invective from the man in the White House — not the candidate for the U.N. migration agency job.

"This IOM election really was not about Ken Isaacs, for whom I have a lot of respect as a humanitarian," Hetfield said. "The election was an international referendum rejecting President Trump and his xenophobic, Islamophobic and isolationist policies. Let's face it, Isaacs' tweets were no worse than the ones coming out of the White House."

The administration is fresh off major international scorn over the separation of migrant families coming across the Mexico border. The U.S. Supreme Court has also upheld his ban on U.S. travel for citizens of a number of countries, most of them predominantly Muslim. Trump has also yanked the United States out of the Global Compact for Migration.

Even before that, Isaacs was on the defensive over retweets and other comments that some critics viewed as anti-Muslim, so much so that he shut down his Twitter account. After that Isaacs carefully stage-managed his media appearances and kept to script — with State Department handlers advising him or in tow.

Isaacs, a vice president at the evangelical Christian humanitarian organization Samaritan's Purse led by Pastor Franklin Graham, met with dozens of government officials during his months-long bid — working diligently to put to rest suspicions and pointing to his track record in the field and as a manager. Meeting with reporters in March, he said IOM's work was "in my wheelhouse."

Playing in Isaacs' favor along with tradition, was money: The United States is traditionally the single biggest donor to the IOM, followed closely by the European Union.

IOM has over 10,000 staffers in offices in more than 150 countries. Its work has been pivotal in providing humanitarian aid to migrants, and helping track deaths of migrants across often deadly Mediterranean waters between northern Africa. It also helps to resettle migrants accepted by foreign countries — and at times return them home.</s>This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

United Nations member states have emphatically rejected the US candidate to lead the organisation’s migration agency, despite the risk of financial reprisals from the Trump administration.



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Ken Isaacs finished a distant third in the last round of voting for the position of director general of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), a position that has been held by an American since the 1960s.

The decisive vote appeared to be a response to Donald Trump’s policies on migration as well as the rejection of a candidate who had tweeted Islamophobic comments and cast doubt on climate change science.

António Vitorino, a Portuguese Socialist party member who is close to the UN secretary general, António Guterres, was elected despite a determined and well-resourced campaign by the US mission to the UN.

Welcoming Vitorino to the job, the UK’s ambassador to the UN, Karen Pierce, noted in a tweet: “This is one of the most important jobs for the UN and the world today.”

The loss of such an important UN post reflects the latest in a long series of steps – some unintentional but most deliberate – by which the Trump administration is peeling away from multilateral institutions, agreements and diplomacy. In recent days it has emerged that Donald Trump severely disparaged Nato and the European Union, and reportedly told aides he wants to withdraw from the World Trade Organisation.

The Trump administration could well retaliate by cutting funding for the IOM, for which the US is the biggest donor. Earlier this month it pulled out of the UN human rights council, which it said had ignored its calls for reform. In January, the US cut its funding for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, by more than half, as a punitive measure aimed at the Palestinian political leadership.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest The new head of the IOM, António Vitorino, is close to the UN secretary general, António Guterres, a fellow Portuguese. Photograph: Martial Trezzini/EPA

According to Mark Goldberg, editor of the UN Dispatch website, Isaacs’ campaign was probably lost before it began because of Trump’s policies, but the candidate’s views contributed to the scale of the defeat.

“I would say the biggest blow came before Isaacs entered the race, when the Trump administration said it would leave negotiations on the Global Compact on Migration, which the head of the IOM would be expected to implement,” Goldberg said.

“And there is the Trump position on migration, with the separation of children from their parents, which Isaacs hasn’t repudiated in any public way.”

After he was nominated in February, past tweets came back to haunt Isaacs, who works for a Christian charity, Samaritan’s Purse.

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“Islam is not peaceful,” he wrote in one, and called on Austria and Switzerland to build a wall in the Alps “to control their borders from refugees”. He also shared online conspiracy theories and claimed that climate change was a “hoax”.

Isaacs has apologised for the anti-Islam tweet and insisted he believes in climate change.

Jeremy Konyndyk, a former head of US foreign disaster assistance, said: “The defeat of the United States’ candidate, Ken Isaacs, is a sad statement on US global credibility.”

Konyndyk, now senior policy fellow at the Center for Global Development, added: “Isaacs was a capable relief expert, but carried significant baggage due to offensive prior statements about refugees and migrants, and apparent climate denialism.

“Putting forward a candidate with this profile was an unwise move by the Trump administration.”</s>António Manuel de Carvalho Ferreira Vitorino elected as new Director General of UN Migration Agency

GENEVA, Jun 29 2018 (IOM) - On Friday 29 June 2018, the member states of the IOM, the United Nations Migration Agency, elected Portugal’s António Manuel de Carvalho Ferreira Vitorino as the International Organization for Migration’s next Director General.



Mr. Vitorino, 61 (DOB 12 January 1957), succeeds the United States’ William Lacy Swing, who is leaving IOM after serving two five-year terms as Director General. Mr. Vitorino’s directorship begins on 1 October 2018.

The latest IOM director general is a former European Commissioner for Justice and Home Affairs (1999-2004) and former Minister of the Presidency and National Defence (1995-1997). He has also enjoyed a distinguished career in Portugal as a lawyer as well as in electoral politics.

Mr. Vitorino was elected to Portugal’s Parliament in 1980. In 1983 he became Secretary of State for Parliamentary Affairs. He later served as Deputy Secretary for the Governor of Macau until 1989, when he returned to Lisbon to become a judge of the Constitutional Court, a term that ended in 1994. He subsequently served as Minister for National Defence and Deputy Prime Minister within the government of António Guterres, now the United Nations’ Secretary General.

From 1999 to 2004 António Vitorino served as the European Commissioner for Justice and Home Affairs. During his tenure, Mr. Vitorino participated in conversations that led to the drawing of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union and the Convention on the Future of Europe.

Since exiting politics in 2005, Mr. Vitorino has returned to law, serving as a partner with the firm of Cuatrecasas, Gonçalves Pereira & Associados. Vitorino has been President of the think tank Notre Europe since June 2011 and for many years enjoyed an ongoing role as commentator for the leading Portuguese television channel RTP 1.

António Vitorino earned a degree from the University of Lisbon’s School of Law in 1981, as well as a Master’s Degree in Legal and Political Science. Mr. Vitorino has authored works on Constitutional Law, Political Science, European Community Law, and was also a member of the Drafting Committee of the Portuguese White Book on Corporate Governance.

Established in 1951, International Organization for Migration has over 10,000 staff and over 400 offices in more than 150 countries. IOM is the UN Migration Agency and is the leading inter-governmental organisation in the field of migration. It is committed to the principle that humane and orderly migration benefits migrants and society.

IOM works with its partners in the international community to assist in meeting operational challenges of migration, advance understanding of migration issues and to encourage social and economic development through migration while upholding the well-being and human rights of all migrants.

IOM provides services and advice to governments and migrants to help ensure the orderly and humane management of migration, to promote international cooperation on migration issues, to assist in the search for practical solutions to migration problems and to provide humanitarian assistance to migrants in need, including refugees and internally displaced people.

IOM was granted permanent observer status to the UN General Assembly in 1992. A cooperation agreement between IOM and the UN was signed in 1996. IOM joined the UN system as a related organization in September 2016, when the agreement outlined in GA res.70/296 (2016) was signed during the UN Summit for Refugees and Migrants.

 

 For further information please contact Leonard Doyle at IOM HQ, Tel: +41 792857123, Email: ldoyle@iom.int

You can view this statement online here.</s>The United Nations migration agency voted to reject President Trump’s nominee for director-general Friday, choosing instead António Vitorino, former deputy prime minister of Portugal, to lead the International Organization for Migration (IOM). This is only the second time in the agency’s 67-year history that it will not be led by an American.

Ken Isaacs, the American nominee, has experience with aiding humanitarian crises through his role as vice president of the evangelical Christian charity Samaritan’s Purse. He made it to the third round of voting before being eliminated.

Whereas Vitorino hails from the European Union, which has made migration reform a key issue, the United States — the IOM’s biggest donor — has been criticized for its anti-immigration policies, including the recently approved travel ban and separating families at the boarder.

The IOM aims to promote “humane and orderly migration for the benefit of all” through services and advice to nations around the world.

Isaacs has also made anti-Islam remarks in the past, retweeted Islamophobic posts, and denied the human causes of climate change. After his nomination for IOM head in February, Isaacs made his Twitter account private and apologized for his comments, but his reputation lingered.

Vitorino defeated runner-up Laura Thompson of Costa Rica to become director-general; Thompson will continue in her role as deputy director-general.</s>LONDON — President Donald Trump’s candidate to lead the U.N.’s migration agency was rejected by delegates on Friday — only the second time since the organization’s founding in 1951 that it won’t be run by an American.

The candidate, Ken Isaacs, had reportedly made or re-posted a number of disparaging remarks about Muslims on social media while serving as vice president of the Christian charity Samaritan’s Purse.

After Isaacs was rejected, delegates in a secret ballot chose António Vitorino of Portugal as director general of the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

The decision to reject Isaacs comes at a crucial moment for migration issues worldwide, and at a time when the Trump administration has been increasingly critical of international institutions. The U.S. pulled out of the U.N.’s Human Rights Council this month, and Trump has criticized the World Trade Organization as “unfair” to the U.S.

According to the IOM’s mission, the 169-member Geneva-based agency promotes the “orderly and humane management of migration” and “international cooperation on migration issues,” as well as encourages practical solutions to migration problems, and provides humanitarian assistance.

The director general has traditionally been filled by an American, with delegates accepting the United States’ chosen candidate. The last time a non-American led the organization was in the 1960s.

However, since the IOM became affiliated with the United Nations in 2016, there had been speculation that the change in status would cause governments to challenge that assumption.

Keith Michael Harper, the Obama administration’s ambassador to the U.N. Human Rights Council, tweeted that Friday’s ballot was a sign that U.S. authority has been “dramatically diminished” on the world stage.

Isaacs’ candidacy was blighted by reports of his comments on Islam, including a Washington Post article in February that said he had re-posted and made an anti-Muslim comment on a CNN story about a June 2017 terrorist attack in London.

The story quoted a Catholic bishop as saying: “This isn’t in the name of God, this isn’t what the Muslim faith asks people to do.”

According to the Post, Isaacs then commented: “CNN, Bishop, if you read the Quran you will know ‘this’ is exactly what the Muslim faith instructs the faithful to do.”

Then in March, CNN reported that Isaac’s private Twitter account had retweeted posts from anti-Muslim figures alleging creeping Sharia law in the United States, and that Islam was trying to destroy the country from within.

However, Mark Hetfield, a friend of Isaacs who heads the humanitarian group HIAS, which works with IOM, put the blame on the policies and rhetoric of Trump himself rather than Isaacs.

“This IOM election really was not about Ken Isaacs, for whom I have a lot of respect as a humanitarian,” Hetfield said.

“The election was an international referendum rejecting President Trump and his xenophobic, Islamophobic and isolationist policies,” he said. “Let’s face it, Isaacs’ tweets were no worse than the ones coming out of the White House.”

Isaacs did not respond to a request for comment.

Vitorino will succeed William Lacy Swing — a former U.S. ambassador who served 10 years as IOM director general — on Oct. 1, the organization said in a statement.</s>In a rare snub of the Trump Administration, the United Nations failed to approve an American pick to head an international migration group.

In a rare snub of the Trump Administration, the United Nations failed to approve an American pick to head an international migration group.

After a third round of voting on Friday, Trump nominee Ken Isaacs was removed from the list of potential candidates to lead the International Organization for Migration.

This is only the second time that an American won’t lead the IOM since the organization’s founding in 1951. Portuguese politician and European Union diplomat Antonio Vitorino earned the necessary two-thirds majority and will become the IOM’s next leader.

Isaacs, the vice president of the evangelical Christian non-profit Samaritan’s Purse, had faced criticism for derogatory statements about Islam that were discovered on his Twitter page. He wrote “#Islam is not peaceful,” “Muslims fast, they also blast,” and “All #Islamic #terrorists literally follow #Islam.”

His Twitter account has now been made private. In a statement, Isaacs apologized, saying that he “deeply” regretted his comments and that “I pledge to hold myself to the highest standards of humanity, human dignity, and equality if chosen to lead IOM.”

CNN’s reporting also uncovered that he had once tweeted that Austria and Switzerland should consider building a wall in the Alps to solidify their border against refugees. “#immigration #wall #Austria #Switzerland consider#buildingawall in #Alps to control their border from refugees,” he tweeted.

The Obama Administration’s ambassador to the UN Human Rights Council tweeted “Yet another sign that US power, authority and prestige has been so drastically diminished. IOM Director is seen as an ‘American seat’ and Trump was unable to place an American in it.”

The International Organization for Migration was created after World War II to aid countries as they faced mass displacement in Europe. Ever since, it has supported migrants by dictating international norms about immigration and refugee status and occasionally provided emergency assistance to refugees. Its mission is to foster “humane and orderly migration.”

The decision came as the Trump Administration’s has continued with a “zero tolerance” policy towards people caught crossing the U.S. border, which resulted in the separation of over 2,300 migrant children from their families at the U.S. border until President Trump ended a family separation policy.</s>The search for a new leader at the International Organization for Migration (IOM) is normally a predictable affair. Bar one Dutchman, over the past 50 years all of the UN organization’s other directors have been Americans.

The director general of the IOM oversees more than 10,000 staff all over the world, with an annual budget of more than $1 billion. The institution provides critical services, such as assisting newly settled refugees and voluntary repatriation, to both governments and migrants. In recent years, Europe’s migrant crisis and the influx of refugees at the US-Mexico border has thrust the work the organization does into the spotlight.

This year’s election of a new director general, who serves a five-year term, may not follow the usual script.

Donald Trump nominated Ken Isaacs, vice president of US evangelical charity Samaritan’s Purse, to take over the role. But shortly after Isaacs was unveiled as a candidate, the Washington Post surfaced old social media posts in which he made controversial remarks about Islam.

Last June, after a terrorist attack in London, Isaacs tweeted: “…if you read the Quran you will know ‘this’ is exactly what the Muslim faith instructs the faithful to do.” In another tweet, he wrote: “If Islam is a religion of peace, let’s see 2 million Muslims in National Mall marching against jihad & stand for America! I haven’t seen it!” Isaacs has since deleted the tweets and apologized for his disparaging comments.

The US state department has stood by Isaacs’ nomination for the IOM’s top job. But this hasn’t gone over well among other UN member states. According to Reuters, more than 600 aid agencies that work in migration sent a letter to IOM member states last week, calling on the new chief to demonstrate “a record of and commitment to respecting diversity and condemning xenophobia, discrimination and intolerance.” The letter didn’t mention Isaacs by name, but could be taken as veiled criticism of his candidacy.

Isaacs has made it clear that he has no intention of challenging Trump’s policies towards migrants, which range from banning citizens of seven Muslim majority nations to, until recently, separating parents and children crossing the US border illegally to seek asylum. “States have a right to protect their borders the way that they deem necessary,” he told Reuters. “If it’s inhumane, then I’ll come back and have private conversations.” Leaders in the development sector have called on Isaacs to “disavow Trump’s migration agenda.”

In an op-ed for the Washington Post, Eric Schwartz, president of Refugees International, notes Isaacs’ “appalling” statements on Islam should disqualify him from the role. Schwartz points to the fact that the IOM, which consists of 169 member governments, is active in a number of majority-Muslim countries, providing support for those displaced within Libya and Syria to aiding Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh.

Member states will vote today (June 29) for a new director general in a conference hall in Geneva, Switzerland. Isaacs is competing against Portugal’s Antonio Vitorino and Costa Rica’s pick Laura Thompson. The vote will be held in secret.</s>GENEVA: Member states of the United Nations migration agency on Friday rejected President Donald Trump’s nominee for director general, repudiating historic American control of the organisation.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) had been led by an American throughout the agency’s 67-year history with one exception from 1961 to 1969. But Trump’s pick Ken Isaacs, an executive with the Christian charity Samaritan’s Purse who faced serious charges of anti-Muslim bigotry, proved to be an untenable choice.

Isaacs was eliminated after three rounds of voting, according to multiple sources with direct knowledge of the vote. Portuguese politician and former commissioner EU Antonio Vitorino has emerged as the front-runner and will face off against and current IOM deputy chief Laura Thompson in the upcoming ballot.

Diplomats speaking on condition of anonymity said that Vitorino’s bid has been helped by the European Union’s painstaking effort to forge a common response to migration challenges and the strategic advantage of having one of their own as the IOM chief.

Trump’s hardline stance on migration — from the so-called Muslim ban to his “zero tolerance” policy on the southern US border that led to separating parents and children — undermined Washington’s traditional right to choose the world’s top migration official.

Trump’s “America First” administration has also levelled ferocious attacks against multilateral bodies and undermined IOM’s core global function — refugee resettlement. Analysts had warned that voters might stick with Isaacs to avoid punishing US fundings cuts, but Trump’s posture on migration and Isaacs’s personal history appeared to sway the room. Isaacs published numerous tweets describing Islam as an inherently violent religion, including one after the 2016 attack in the French city of Nice that said “Islam is not peaceful”.

He has also retweeted xenophobic material, such as a post last year from Robert Spencer, the director of Jihad Watch, which argued “peaceful Muslims” and “Jihadis” were indistinguishable. Isaacs made his Twitter account private amid the uproar that followed his nomination in February, but he has not denied responsibility for any of his inflammatory comments.</s>For the first time in 67 years, the United States will not lead the United Nations migration agency. Isaacs is considered to hold opinions which run counter to the purpose of the agency, including his perspectives on Islam and climate change, which both happen to be major factors impacting the migration of peoples around the globe.

In addition, the vote is taking place at a time when Trump has been making waves by imprisoning entire families for crossing the Mexico border after splitting up families at the border, many of whom remain parted at the writing of this article. Therefore, the US is lacking a positive humanitarian like image, which is of at least a little bit of significance when a humanitarian body’s leadership is in question. In his place, a Portuguese diplomat won the vote in Isaacs’s stead, beginning his term in October.

June 29 (UPI) — Ken Isaacs, President Donald Trump’s nominee to head the United Nations migration agency, was bypassed for the job Friday in a secret ballot vote. Isaacs finished last among three candidates Thursday at the International Organization for Migration’s Geneva headquarters. Portuguese diplomat and former deputy prime minister Antonio Vitorino won the vote instead. He will start in October. The vote marks the first time since 1951 the leader of the 169-nation agency will not be a U.S. representative. Vitorino will replace American William Lacy Swing, who was elected near the end of President George W. Bush’s administration. The rejection of Isaacs, who now works for the Christian non-profit group Samaritan’s Purse, can be seen as a global rebuke to Trump’s migration policies — and a possible sign of falling U.S. influence in multilateral agencies after Trump recently pulled the United States from the U.N. Humans Rights Council. Since his nomination in February, Isaacs has also dealt with prior social media posts in which he was critical of Islam, calling it a violent religion, and expressed doubts about climate change. He later apologized. Isaacs’ defeat at the IOM is “a sad statement on U.S. global credibility,” said Jeremy Konyndyk, former disaster assistance director of the U.S. Agency for International Development. “The world was unlikely to support a U.S. candidate to lead the global migration body under those circumstances.”

Another nail has found itself in the coffin of American international influence, hammered in there by President Donald Trump. Last week, US envoy to the UN, Nikki Haley, withdrew the US from the United Nations Human Rights Council, just days before a report was to be issued on the growing poverty crisis in America, allegedly over the Council’s bias against Israel. Trump has withdrawn the US from multiple multilateral accords, including the TPP, the Paris Climate Accord, the JCPOA, a G7 declaration, threatened NAFTA on multiple occasions, threatened sanctions against America’s trade partners for not abiding by America’s foreign policy interests, and initiated what is rapidly turning into a global trade war.

DONATE Send us €20 or more and we'll send you The Duran mug absolutely FREE - we'll even cover the shipping! Will you help expose the lies of the mainstream media? As a reader of The Duran, you are well aware of all the propaganda and disinformation reported by the mainstream media. You know how important it is to bring real news to light. Please support The Duran and help us keep reporting on news that is fair, balanced, and real.</s>June 29 (UPI) -- Ken Isaacs, President Donald Trump's nominee to head the United Nations migration agency, was bypassed for the job Friday in a secret ballot vote.

Isaacs finished last among three candidates Thursday at the International Organization for Migration's Geneva headquarters.

Portuguese diplomat and former deputy prime minister Antonio Vitorino won the vote instead. He will start in October.

The vote marks the first time since 1951 the leader of the 169-nation agency will not be a U.S. representative. Vitorino will replace American William Lacy Swing, who was elected near the end of President George W. Bush's administration.

The rejection of Isaacs, who now works for the Christian non-profit group Samaritan's Purse, can be seen as a global rebuke to Trump's migration policies -- and a possible sign of falling U.S. influence in multilateral agencies after Trump recently pulled the United States from the U.N. Humans Rights Council.

Since his nomination in February, Isaacs has also dealt with prior social media posts in which he was critical of Islam, calling it a violent religion, and expressed doubts about climate change. He later apologized.

Isaacs' defeat at the IOM is "a sad statement on U.S. global credibility," said Jeremy Konyndyk, former disaster assistance director of the U.S. Agency for International Development. "The world was unlikely to support a U.S. candidate to lead the global migration body under those circumstances."
United Nations member states elect António Vitorino as the director general of the International Organization for Migration, becoming the first non-American to hold this position since the 1960s.