ROME: Fatigue over the war in Ukraine and US-led foreign aid cuts are jeopardizing efforts to support people fleeing hardship, the head of the UN migration agency warned in an interview on Friday. International Organization for Migration (IOM) Director General Amy Pope was speaking a day after a Ukraine recovery conference in Rome mobilized over €10 billion ($11.69 billion) for the country.
“It’s three-and-a-half years into the conflict. I think it’s fair to say that everybody is tired, and we hear that even from Ukrainians who’ve been experiencing the ongoing attacks in their cities and often have been displaced multiple times,” she said.
“The response to it, though, has to be peace, because ultimately, without peace, there won’t be an end, not only to the funding request, but also to the support for the Ukrainian people.”
Russia’s invasion has triggered Europe’s biggest refugee this century, with 5.6 million Ukrainian refugees globally and 3.8 million uprooted in their country, according to UN data. The IOM and other UN agencies are hampered by major funding shortages as US President Donald Trump slashes foreign aid and European donors like Britain shift funds from development to defense.
US decisions will give the IOM a $1 billion shortfall this year, Pope said, saying budget reductions should be phased gradually or else Trump and others risk stoking even worse migration crises.
“It doesn’t work to have provided assistance and then just walk away and leave nothing. And what we see happening when support falls is that people move again … So (the cuts) can ultimately have a backlash,” she said.
Warning for US, praise for Italy
Pope, 51, is the first woman to lead the IOM and a former adviser to the Obama and Biden administrations who is now working with Trump’s White House on so-called “self-deportations.”
She said the IOM has decades of experience of such programs in Europe and they take time to implement, especially to prepare returnees and check they are going voluntarily.
“That doesn’t always move as quickly as governments would like,” Pope said.
Asked whether the IOM would stop working with the US if the returns turned out to be forced, she said: “We’ve made clear to them what our standards are, and as with every member state, we outline what we can do and what we can’t do, and they understand that, and it is part of the deal.”
After Rome, Pope was on her way to Washington to meet with Trump administration officials and US lawmakers. Turning to Europe, she praised Italy’s decision to increase migrant work permits to nearly 500,000 for 2026-2028, coming from a right-wing government otherwise pursuing tough border policies.
“What Italy is doing is taking a realistic look at what labor they need, what skills they need, what talent they need. And then they’re designing a system to allow people to come in through a safe and legal channel,” Pope said.
