The UN’s International Organization for Migration (IOM) has appointed four-time Somali-born British Olympic champion Sir Mo Farah as its first-ever global goodwill ambassador.
The appointment of Sir Farah, whose birth name is Hussein Abdi Kahin, was made on Tuesday in Geneva at the 114th Session of the IOM Council.
The 40-year-old retired long-distance runner said he intends to use his new role with the IOM to raise awareness of issues affecting people on the move.
“No child should ever go through what I did; victims of child trafficking are just children. They deserve to be children. They deserve to play and to be kids,” said Farah.
Farah’s revelation that he was trafficked to the UK as a child shocked the world last year.
“Becoming a global goodwill ambassador for IOM gives me a chance to help people, people like me, and make changes. To help people know we can all make a difference in our lives,” he added.
He said in a film aired by the BBC in 2022 that his real name is Hussein Abdi Kahin and that he was born in Somaliland, arriving in the UK at the age of eight under a false name after escaping war in the Horn of Africa.
Regarded as Britain’s most decorated athlete, Farah received his knighthood from the late Queen Elizabeth in 2017 for services to athletics.
Photo credit: X.com/Mo Farah
