US challenger Pope elected new UN migration chief

White House veteran Amy Pope will become the first woman to head the UN's International Organization for Migration (IOM) after beating her boss Antonio Vitorino in a leadership vote.

The IOM announced in a statement that she would become the organization's first woman chief on October 1. The IOM was founded in 1951 to handle the displacements in Europe following World War II but the agency only joined the UN fold seven years ago.

The race for the top job at the organization comes at a critical time, as global numbers of migrants soar. The Geneva-based body is the leading international agency addressing the needs of some 281 million migrants throughout the world.