William L. Swing

William Lacy Swing (born September 11, 1934 in Lexington, North Carolina). He is a diplomat and former United States Ambassador, and United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Under Secretary General. He was the Director General of the International Organization for Migration until António Vitorino's appointment in 2018.

William L. Swing
William Lacy Swing, Director General of the International Organization for Migration during visit to Indonesia, April 2013.
Born	William Lacy Swing (1934-09-11) September 11, 1934 Lexington, North Carolina
Alma mater	Catawba College Yale University University of Tübingen
Occupation	Diplomat

Early life and education

Swing was born on September 11, 1934, in Lexington, North Carolina. In 1956 he graduated from Catawba College in North Carolina (Bachelor of Arts). Four years later he received a Master of Divinity from Yale University.[1] He did post-graduate studies at the University of Tübingen in Germany. He was a Fellow at Harvard University from 1976 to 1977.[1]

He holds an honorary degree from Geneva School of Diplomacy and International Relations and Hofstra University (Doctor of Humane Letters), and is an Honorary Fellow of Harris Manchester College, Oxford.

He speaks French, German, Afrikaans, and Creole.[2]

Ambassadorial posts

• United States Ambassador to the Republic of the Congo (1979–81) (People's Republic of the Congo)
• United States Ambassador to Liberia (1981–85)
• United States Ambassador to South Africa (1989–92)
• United States Ambassador to Nigeria (1992–93)
• United States Ambassador to Haiti (1993–98)
• United States Ambassador to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (1998–2001)

United Nations

Western Sahara

Swing served as UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General to Western Sahara from 2001–2003. He was Chief of Mission for the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO).

Democratic Republic of the Congo

Swing then led the MONUSCO (the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo) (May 2003 - January 2008).[3] He was appointed as Special Representative of the Secretary General to the United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUC), with the rank of Under Secretary General. MONUC, now known as MONUSCO, is the UN's largest peace operation. The Mission is engaged in the peace process and providing security support to the country as it seeks to end armed conflict in the war torn eastern part of the Congo.[4]

International Organization for Migration

In June 2008 Swing was elected Director General of the International Organization for Migration (IOM).[5] In early 2017, UN Secretary-General António Guterres appointed him to the 9-member High-Level Task Force to Improve the United Nations Approach for Preventing and Addressing Sexual Abuse.[6]

Swings term as Director General will end in September 2018. He will be succeeded by Portuguese politician Antonio Vitorino on October 1.[7]

Awards

He is a member of the American Academy of Diplomacy. In 2012, he received the American Foreign Service Association's Award for Lifetime Contributions to American Diplomacy.[4]

In 2019, he was awarded the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun, by the government of Japan.

See also

• List of people from North Carolina
• List of Yale University people

Notes

1. Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents. Office of the Federal Register, National Archives and Records Service, General Services Administration. 1979. p. 580.
2. "Biography: William L. Swing, Ambassador to the Democratic Republic of the Congo". 1997-2001.state.gov. Retrieved July 9, 2020.
3. "Press Release SG/A/836 AFR/622".
4. "Lifetime Contributions to American Diplomacy Award 2012".
5. "Ambassador William L. Swing Elected Director General of The International Organization for Migration".
6. Secretary-General Creates High-Level Task Force to Improve United Nations Approach for Preventing, Addressing Sexual Abuse United Nations, press release of January 6, 2017.
7. UN snubs US and picks Portuguese politician Antonio Vitorino to run IOM migration office. Deutsche Welle, June 29, 2018, retrieved the same day.

External links

• Appearances on C-SPAN
• Foreign Service Journal article on his Lifetime Contributions to American Diplomacy Award.

Diplomatic posts
Preceded by Daniel H. Simpson	United States Ambassador to the Democratic Republic of the Congo 1998–2001	Succeeded by Aubrey Hooks
Preceded by office reestablished	United States Ambassador to Congo 1979–1981	Succeeded by Kenneth L. Brown
Preceded by Robert P. Smith	United States Ambassador to Liberia 1981–1985	Succeeded by Edward Joseph Perkins
Preceded by Lannon Walker	United States Ambassador to Nigeria 1992–1993	Succeeded by Walter C. Carrington
Preceded by Edward Joseph Perkins	United States Ambassador to South Africa 1989–1992	Succeeded by Princeton N. Lyman
Preceded by Vicki Huddleston (as Chargé d'Affaires)	United States Ambassador to Haiti 1993–1998	Succeeded by Timothy M. Carney