UN migration agency picks Portugal's Vitorino as new chief

Geneva [Switzerland], June 29 (ANI): The UN's migration agency has elected Portugal's Socialist Antonio Vitorino as its new Director General.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) has snubbed the Trump administration as it rejected its proposed candidate to head the body.

Trump's pick Ken Isaacs was eliminated after three rounds of voting. He faced serious charges of anti-Muslim bigotry, according to several media reports.

IOM's current Director General, William Lacy Swing, will be stepping down after completing the second of two five-year terms, China's state-run news agency Xinhua reported.

The sixty-one-year-old Vitorino was chosen over the runner-up, Laura Thompson of Costa Rica, who is the current deputy director-general of IOM.

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.

It is pertinent to mention here that the US is the single biggest donor to the IOM, followed closely by the European Union (EU).(ANI)

This story has not been edited. It has been published as provided by ANI