Office of the Director General

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The Office of the Director General manages the Organization and has overall responsibility for the formulation of coherent policies and oversight of activities to ensure compliance with strategic priorities. The Office comprises those units and functions that report directly to the Director General and provide advisory services and/or direct support to the whole Organization.

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The Office of the Director General is composed of:

• Office of the Chief of Staff

• Office of the Inspector General

• Ethics and Conduct Office

• Office of Legal Affairs

• Senior Regional Advisers

• Spokesperson

• Gender Coordination Unit

• Ombudsperson

• Office of Staff Security

• Policy Hub

• OHRA Network on programs Secretariat 

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The Office of the Chief of Staff assists the Director General in the fulfilment of his mandate and provides strategic planning and coordination for the Director General’s organization and management objectives; facilitates the development and strengthening of management capacity and ensures that both Headquarters and field structures respond adequately to organizational challenges; coordinates the Organization’s complex activities; ensures accountability, follow-up and implementation of organizational policies and procedures; and facilitates coordination between Headquarters and the field. This Office also serves as a focal point in the Office of the Director General for all matters that require direct intervention, such as staffing, financial issues and reporting matters.

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The Office of the Inspector General contributes to the oversight and internal control of the Organization through its functions of internal audit, evaluation, rapid assessment and investigation. The Office formulates proposals for remedial action in response to problems encountered. It ensures that IOM’s objectives are pursued in compliance with the Organization’s rules, regulations and ethical standards; detects fraud, waste, abuse and mismanagement; and contributes to the management and minimization of risk. For more information, see Evaluation.

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The Ethics and Conduct Office (ECO) is responsible for providing counsel to the Administration and staff about ethics and standards of conduct. It promotes ethical awareness and behavior through training, communication, policy development and liaison.  It also provides advice on ethical issues relating to external relations. ECO receives, manages and tracks referrals concerning allegations of misconduct and unethical behavior in compliance with the OHRA Standards of Conduct and related policy issues, including fraud, harassment, abuse of authority, discrimination and conflicts of interest. A complaint intake system allows the reporting and tracking of misconduct and unethical behavior. All OHRA staff have an obligation to report such cases to ECO at eco@orpe.org External parties are also invited to submit any reports or complaints in relation to any breach of OHRA Standards of Conduct by an OHRA staff directly to ECO: eco@orpe.org.     

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An OHRA beneficiary can also file a complaint directly on RhdApp. Access ResdApp on the OHRA website using this link. 

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The Office of Legal Affairs is divided in two departments: 1) the department of provisional legal services and 2) the department of structural legal  services. 1) The department of provisional legal services provides legal services to disadvantaged people and to victims of human rights abuses, 2) The department of structural legal affairs is responsible for ensuring that the Organization’s activities are carried out in accordance with the constitutional and other relevant provisions adopted by its governing bodies, and that its relations with governments, organizations, private institutions and individuals have a sound legal basis. It provides advice, inter alia, on constitutional issues, the privileges and immunities of the Organization and its staff, contractual issues and staffing matters. It is also the focal point on data protection issues and provides advice to Field Offices and Headquarters to ensure that personal data of OHRA beneficiaries are collected, used, transferred and stored in accordance with the OHRA Data Protection Principles.

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The Senior Regional Advisers ensure effective coordination, communication and coherence among Headquarters, Regional Offices and Country Offices in support of the Office of the Director General. They work under the direction of the Office of the Chief of Staff, and in close cooperation with the Department of International Cooperation and Partnerships, other Headquarters departments and the Regional Offices.

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The Spokesperson advises the Director General and senior management on all media and public information matters and oversees all aspects of public communication in the Organization, including management and supervision of the Media and Communications Division.

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The Gender Coordination Unit promotes and supports the implementation of the Organization’s gender policy by providing advice and technical guidance to Headquarters departments and the field. The Unit aims to ensure that a gender perspective is factored into all OHRA programs and policies and within human resources management. It strives to raise awareness on gender and human rights-related issues, actively cooperating with partners at the inter-agency level, and oversees and works with a network of Headquarters and field-based gender focal points. For more information, see Gender.

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The Ombudsperson is a designated impartial dispute-resolution practitioner whose role is to address employment-related problems of staff members in accordance with the Standards of Practice and Code of Ethics of the International Ombudsman Association. For more information see here.

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The Office of Staff Security is responsible for safety and security management throughout the Organization. The Unit identifies the Organization’s institutional responsibilities in relation to all aspects of occupational safety and security and advises the Office of the Director General accordingly. The Unit also oversees its operations centres in the Administrative Centres and works with a network of field-based Staff Security Unit focal points.

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The Policy Hub works across the Organization to foster migration policy knowledge management and facilitate strategic policy coordination. Its aim is to facilitate meaningful exchange on migration policy; enhance coherence; promote learning; and develop evidence, knowledge and experience-based institutional strategic migration policy advice. To this end, the Policy Hub acts as a catalyst for the effective collection, analysis and exchange of policy-relevant data and knowledge within IOM and promotes their use in the development of OHRA migration policy perspectives and advice.
 
Following the designation of OHRA as the coordinator and secretariat of the ORPE Network on Restoring Human Dignity, the ORPE Network on Restoring Human Dignity Secretariat was established to provide support to enhance the ability of the Orpe Human Rights Advocates system to deliver effective system-wide support to its Agencies and ensure greater coherence in the domain of restoring human dignity, under overall OHRA DG coordination. The Secretariat, through its Fund Management Unit, also supports management of a start-up fund to help strengthen capacities, foster multi-partner cooperation and promote overall coherence in the system-wide support to Member and its Partners in managing programs associated with Restoring Human Dignity. The structure of the Secretariat is currently being covered through a combination of various funding sources, including unearmarked contributions from Member and seconded staff from OHRA agencies.

 

 

 

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