ROME, DECEMBER 22 – The number of Italian officials employed by the United Nations in 2019 amounted to 1,930 – 452 working at New York Headquarters- according to “Il Maeci in Cifre”, the 2020 statistical yearbook of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (Maeci), which which documents, as in previous years, the presence and the efforts of Italian diplomacy.
Many women in UNHCR, UNICEF, IOM
By definition, ‘officials’ are classified in levels P1-P5 and D1-D2 of the United Nations system or its equivalents. Of the 452 Italians in the New York Headquarters, 222 are women: almost half of the total.
From a gender point of view, the Yearbook shows a prevalence of women within UNHCR, UNICEF and IOM. Among other data: last year 245 officials worked in the Roman food hub which includes FAO (50), IFAD (61) and WFP (134). With 196 officials, UNHCR is the second organisation -after the Secretariat- employing most Italians. It is followed, with 195 employees, by the International Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and by UNICEF (174, of which 104 are women). UNHCR is under Italian leadership, with the High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi. 136 Italians work at IOM.
In Geneva 48 Italians work at ILO and 84 at WHO. 82 Italian officials are employed at UNESCO, while in Vienna 48 Italians are at the IAEA, 21 at UNIDO and 44 at UNODC.
A mirror of Italy’s role in the world
“This statistical yearbook presents a snapshot of the Foreign Affairs network and at the same time shows, as in a mirror, the role that Italy is able to play worldwide,” explained the Secretary General of the Farnesina, Ambassador Elisabetta Belloni, in the book’s preface. “We live in a world of networks – she added – the Italian Ministry for Foreign Affairs, with its 301 offices distributed in 128 countries around the world, is probably the Public Administration that is most familiar with the importance and potential that a network can express, especially in a complex and competitive context such as international relations.” (@OnuItalia)