Chief of Mission

Abdusattor Esoev (Tajikistan) is the Chief of Mission for the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Yemen as of October 2024. Prior to this, he served as IOM Chief of Mission in Bangladesh, overseeing the largest IOM mission in the Asia Pacific region, with significant humanitarian operations supporting over one million Rohingya refugees in Cox’s Bazar. In his role as Co-Chair of the Strategic Executive Group (SEG), alongside the UNHCR Representative and the UN Resident Coordinator, Abdusattor co-led the coordination of the Rohingya response, contributing to the development and negotiation of the annual Joint Humanitarian Response Plan. He also played a key role in advocating for the inclusion of climate migration in national policies, which helped shape Bangladesh’s climate migration strategy at COP27. As IOM’s representative in Bangladesh, Abdusattor championed ethical recruitment practices and improved migration governance, significantly contributing to the country’s socioeconomic development.

Before his tenure in Bangladesh, Abdusattor was the IOM Chief of Mission in the Russian Federation from 2018 to 2022. There, he fostered strategic partnerships and led efforts to bring the Russian Federation into IOM as a Member State after nearly 30 years of holding Observer status.

Earlier, Abdusattor served as IOM’s Deputy Chief of Mission in Dhaka, Bangladesh, from 2015 to 2018, where he played a vital role in scaling up IOM operations during the 2017 Rohingya refugee crisis in Cox’s Bazar.

With nearly 24 years of experience in emergency response, post-crisis recovery, and development, Abdusattor has also held senior roles with IOM in Tajikistan, Afghanistan, and Sudan.

Abdusattor holds an MBA from the University of Liverpool (UK) and an MPhil in Public Policy and Administration from Walden University (USA), along with degrees in Economics and Linguistics. In addition to his native Tajik and English, Abdusattor speaks Russian, Dari/Farsi, and basic Arabic.

For insights on migration, humanitarian issues, and his latest initiatives, you can follow him on Twitter (X) at @AbdusattorEsoev, and Abdusattor Esoev, MBA, PPA | LinkedIn.