The International Organization for Migration (IOM) welcomes a new Chief of Mission in the Republic of South Sudan. Peter Van der Auweraert, a Belgium national, arrived in South Sudan in February 2021 and presented his credentials to the Minister of Foreign Affairs on 2 March.

Before being posted to South Sudan, Peter served as the IOM Western Balkans Coordinator and Chief of Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina, based in Sarajevo. He has over twenty years of international experience, holding leadership positions in humanitarian diplomacy, humanitarian assistance, peacebuilding, transitional justice, and conflict-related land and property issues.

His previous roles include coordinating IOM’s response to the 2015-2016 European and Western Balkans Migrant and Refugee Crisis and overseeing IOM’s humanitarian and transition and recovery work in the region covered by the Organization’s Regional Office in Vienna, Austria. While Head of the Land, Property and Reparations Division at the IOM Headquarters in Geneva, he participated in peace making processes in Colombia, Iraq, Timor-Leste and the Philippines, amongst other countries, as senior advisor on reparations and land and property issues.

From 2003 to 2005, Peter served as Executive Director of Avocats Sans Frontières, an international NGO focusing on access to justice in post-conflict countries, and from 1999 to 2006, he held a Visiting Lectureship in International Public and Criminal Law at the University of Turku in Finland. Peter started his professional career in the private sector, working as in-house legal counsel at an international trading company in Lausanne, Switzerland.

“I am honored to serve in South Sudan and lead a team of talented and committed professionals working all across the country, including in the most remote areas. This is an exciting time to be posted in this beautiful country, and, together with my stellar team, am committed to continue providing humanitarian aid to those in need and supporting the Authorities and communities alike in their path towards a durable peace and a brighter future,” says Peter Van der Auweraert.

For more information, please contact Nabie Loyce in IOM South Sudan, Tel: +211912380115, Email: nloyce@iom.int