United Nations

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon (L) speaks with France's Ambassador to the United Nations Gerard Araud (R) just before a debate in the United Nations Security Council November 16, 2010, focused on next year's planned referenda in Southern Sudan, at UN headquarters in New York.

NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 20: Israeli President Shimon Peres speaks to the media at the opening of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals summit on September 20, 2010 at the United Nations in New York City. Nearly 140 world leaders will attend the three-day summit on ending global poverty, hunger and disease within the next five years. This week will also see the annual United Nations General Assembly convene.

NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 20: Israeli President Shimon Peres speaks to the media at the opening of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals summit on September 20, 2010 at the United Nations in New York City. Nearly 140 world leaders will attend the three-day summit on ending global poverty, hunger and disease within the next five years. This week will also see the annual United Nations General Assembly convene.

NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 20: Israeli President Shimon Peres speaks to the media at the opening of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals summit on September 20, 2010 at the United Nations in New York City. Nearly 140 world leaders will attend the three-day summit on ending global poverty, hunger and disease within the next five years. This week will also see the annual United Nations General Assembly convene.

NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 20: Israeli President Shimon Peres speaks to the media at the opening of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals summit on September 20, 2010 at the United Nations in New York City. Nearly 140 world leaders will attend the three-day summit on ending global poverty, hunger and disease within the next five years. This week will also see the annual United Nations General Assembly convene.

NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 20: Israeli President Shimon Peres speaks to the media at the opening of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals summit on September 20, 2010 at the United Nations in New York City. Nearly 140 world leaders will attend the three-day summit on ending global poverty, hunger and disease within the next five years. This week will also see the annual United Nations General Assembly convene.

NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 23: United Nations Secretary General , Ban Ki-Moon addresses the 65th session of the General Assembly at the United Nations on September 23, 2010 in New York City. Leaders and diplomats from around the world are in New York City for the United Nations yearly General Assembly.

NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 23: United Nations Secretary General , Ban Ki-Moon addresses the 65th session of the General Assembly at the United Nations on September 23, 2010 in New York City. Leaders and diplomats from around the world are in New York City for the United Nations yearly General Assembly.

NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 20: Israeli President Shimon Peres speaks to the media at the opening of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals summit on September 20, 2010 at the United Nations in New York City. Nearly 140 world leaders will attend the three-day summit on ending global poverty, hunger and disease within the next five years. This week will also see the annual United Nations General Assembly convene.

NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 20: Israeli President Shimon Peres speaks to the media at the opening of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals summit on September 20, 2010 at the United Nations in New York City. Nearly 140 world leaders will attend the three-day summit on ending global poverty, hunger and disease within the next five years. This week will also see the annual United Nations General Assembly convene.

NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 23: United Nations Secretary General , Ban Ki-Moon addresses the 65th session of the General Assembly at the United Nations on September 23, 2010 in New York City. Leaders and diplomats from around the world are in New York City for the United Nations yearly General Assembly.

NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 23: United Nations Secretary General , Ban Ki-Moon addresses the 65th session of the General Assembly at the United Nations on September 23, 2010 in New York City. Leaders and diplomats from around the world are in New York City for the United Nations yearly General Assembly.

NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 20: Israeli President Shimon Peres speaks to the media at the opening of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals summit on September 20, 2010 at the United Nations in New York City. Nearly 140 world leaders will attend the three-day summit on ending global poverty, hunger and disease within the next five years. This week will also see the annual United Nations General Assembly convene.

NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 23: United Nations Secretary General , Ban Ki-Moon addresses the 65th session of the General Assembly at the United Nations on September 23, 2010 in New York City. Leaders and diplomats from around the world are in New York City for the United Nations yearly General Assembly.

NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 21: A United Nations security guard walks by portraits of President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton at the new U.S. Mission to the United Nations September 21, 2010 in New York City. Approximately 140 world leaders will attend the Millennium Development Goals summit, a three-day conference on ending global poverty, hunger and disease within the next five years. This week will also see the annual United Nations General Assembly convene.

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon (bottom) speaks while Abdullah Gül (top), President of Turkey, listens in a Security Council meeting during the United Nations General Assembly September 23, 2010 at UN headquarters in New York.

The United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon (R) meets with the President of Democratic Republic of the Congo Joseph Kabila Kabange September 24, 2010 during the 65th session of the General Assembly at the United Nations in New York.

The United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon (R) meets with the President of the Philippines Benigno S. Aquino III September 24, 2010 during the 65th session of the General Assembly at the United Nations in New York.

The United Nations Secretary-General Ban Kin-moon (R) meets with the Foreign Minister of Egypt Ahmed Aboul Gheit September 29, 2010 during the 65th session of the General Assembly at the United Nations in New York.

United Nations peacekeepers secure the area during a demonstration against the delayed vote results in front of the United Nations Operation in Ivory Coast headquarters (ONUCI) on December 2, 2010 in Bouake. UN human rights chief Navi Pillay has warned Ivory Coast's two presidential candidates against making incendiary statements that could trigger violence amid delays in the announcement of the results.

Martin Krause of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Asia-Pacific Regional Centre, speaks during a press conference, on December 2, 2010 during the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP-16), in the Mexican seaside resort of Cancun. Bickering over the fate of the Kyoto Protocol cast a cloud over talks on future climate action, with Japan putting its foot down and refusing to extend the treaty named for its ancient capital.

United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, delivers the closing remarks in a UN forum on Climate Change: Supporting Implementation, at the Cancun Meese Convention Center on December 7, 2010, during the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP-16) held in Cancun, Mexico.

United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, sits listening during a UN forum on Climate Change: Supporting Implementation, at the Cancun Meese Convention Center on December 7, 2010, during the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP-16) held in Cancun, Mexico.

United Nations peacekeepers patrol on December 13, 2010 around the Golf Hotel in Abidjan, where Alassane Ouattara set up his headquarters. Troops loyal to Ivory Coast leader Laurent Gbagbo deployed around the hotel housing his internationally-backed rival, as the European Union planned sanctions against him. Heavily-armed fighters from the New Forces (FN), former rebels who have rallied to Gbagbo's long-time enemy Alassane Ouattara, adopted defensive combat positions in front of the Golf Hotel, alongside United Nations peacekeepers. Gbagbo loyalists, including members of the presidential guard and gendarmes in three trucks mounted with machine-guns, took control of two roads leading to the hotel.

United Nations peacekeepers stand in front of the Golf Hotel, after heavily-armed fighters from the New Forces (FN), former rebels who have rallied to Gbagbo's long-time enemy Alassane Ouattara adopted defensive combat positions around the hotel in Abidjan on December 13, 2010, where Alassane Ouattara set up his headquarters. Troops loyal to Ivory Coast leader Laurent Gbagbo deployed around the hotel housing his internationally-backed rival, as the European Union planned sanctions against him. Heavily-armed fighters from the New Forces (FN), former rebels who have rallied to Gbagbo's long-time enemy Alassane Ouattara, adopted defensive combat positions in front of the Golf Hotel, alongside United Nations peacekeepers. Gbagbo loyalists, including members of the presidential guard and gendarmes in three trucks mounted with machine-guns, took control of two roads leading to the hotel.

United Nations secretary-general Trygve Lie (L) and US delegates chief Warren Austin (R) talk together on January 26, 1951 at Lake Success, with a United nations poster about the Universal Declaration of the Human rights in background.

Representative of the United Nations Mission (UNMIN) in Nepal Karin Landgren speaks at a press conference in Kathmandu on September 22, 2010. The United Nations on September 15 gave Nepal's rival factions four months to settle their differences and negotiate a government settlement, with the UN Security Council ordering its peace mission there to end in January.

Representative of the United Nations Mission (UNMIN) in Nepal Karin Landgren speaks at a press conference in Kathmandu on September 22, 2010. The United Nations on September 15 gave Nepal's rival factions four months to settle their differences and negotiate a government settlement, with the UN Security Council ordering its peace mission there to end in January.

Belgian ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, Alex Van Meeuwen (C) arrives at the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council session room on September 28, 2010 at UN offices in Geneva. Israel came under pressure at the UN Human Rights Council after a probe ordered by the UN Human Rights Council said last week there was clear evidence to back a prosecution against Israel for killing and torture when troops stormed the flotilla in May, leaving nine Turkish activists dead.

The United Nations Secretary-General Ban Kin-moon (L) meets with the Foreign Minister of Egypt Ahmed Aboul Gheit September 29, 2010 during the 65th session of the General Assembly at the United Nations in New York.

United Nations special envoy to Sudan, Haile Menkerios of Eritrea, holds a press conference in Khartoum on October 18, 2010 during which he said that the United Nations has not sent more peacekeepers to the disputed border between north and south Sudan, but it has redeployed troops to some sensitive sectors.

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon (L) with British Foreign Secretary William Hague (R) just before Hague chairs a debate in the United Nations Security Council November 16, 2010, focused on next year's planned referenda in Southern Sudan, at UN headquarters in New York.

United Nations peacekeepers secure the United Nations Operation in Ivory Coast headquarters (ONUCI) during a demonstration against the delayed vote results on December 2, 2010 in Bouake. UN human rights chief Navi Pillay has warned Ivory Coast's two presidential candidates against making incendiary statements that could trigger violence amid delays in the announcement of the results.

United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, participates in a press briefing after the days general assembly at the Aztec event center on December 7, 2010, during the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP-16) held in Cancun, Mexico.

United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, delivers the closing remarks in a UN forum on Climate Change: Supporting Implementation, at the Cancun Meese Convention Center on December 7, 2010, during the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP-16) held in Cancun, Mexico.

The United Nations peacekeepers guard the Golf Hotel, the headquarters of the new Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara, on December 6, 2010 in Abidjan. Incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo and his old rival Alassane Ouattara have both sworn themselves in as president and each pressed on as if he was in charge despite mediation attempts by South Africa's former president Thabo Mbeki. Gbagbo, 65, has defied international calls to cede power after the United Nations recognised Ouattara as the winner of the November 28 runoff vote, which was supposed to stabilise the country but has been marred by deadly violence.

United Nations peacekeepers patrol around the Golf Hotel in Abidjan on December 13, 2010, where Alassane Ouattara set up his headquarters. Troops loyal to Ivory Coast leader Laurent Gbagbo deployed around the hotel housing his internationally-backed rival, as the European Union planned sanctions against him. Heavily-armed fighters from the New Forces (FN), former rebels who have rallied to Gbagbo's long-time enemy Alassane Ouattara, adopted defensive combat positions in front of the Golf Hotel, alongside United Nations peacekeepers. Gbagbo loyalists, including members of the presidential guard and gendarmes in three trucks mounted with machine-guns, took control of two roads leading to the hotel.

United Nations peacekeepers stand in front of the Golf Hotel, after heavily-armed fighters from the New Forces (FN), former rebels who have rallied to Gbagbo's long-time enemy Alassane Ouattara adopted defensive combat positions around the hotel in Abidjan on December 13, 2010, where Alassane Ouattara set up his headquarters. Troops loyal to Ivory Coast leader Laurent Gbagbo deployed around the hotel housing his internationally-backed rival, as the European Union planned sanctions against him. Heavily-armed fighters from the New Forces (FN), former rebels who have rallied to Gbagbo's long-time enemy Alassane Ouattara, adopted defensive combat positions in front of the Golf Hotel, alongside United Nations peacekeepers. Gbagbo loyalists, including members of the presidential guard and gendarmes in three trucks mounted with machine-guns, took control of two roads leading to the hotel.

United Nations peacekeepers patrol in front of the Golf Hotel, after heavily-armed fighters from the New Forces (FN), former rebels who have rallied to Gbagbo's long-time enemy Alassane Ouattara adopted defensive combat positions around the hotel in Abidjan on December 13, 2010, where Alassane Ouattara set up his headquarters. Troops loyal to Ivory Coast leader Laurent Gbagbo deployed around the hotel housing his internationally-backed rival, as the European Union planned sanctions against him. Heavily-armed fighters from the New Forces (FN), former rebels who have rallied to Gbagbo's long-time enemy Alassane Ouattara, adopted defensive combat positions in front of the Golf Hotel, alongside United Nations peacekeepers. Gbagbo loyalists, including members of the presidential guard and gendarmes in three trucks mounted with machine-guns, took control of two roads leading to the hotel.

The United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon (L) meets with Jordan's Queen Rania (C) and 12-year-old Nthabiseng Tshabalala from South Africa September 22, 2010 during the Millennium Development Goals Summit at the United Nations in New York. Queen Rania delivered the 1GOAL Education petition to get every child in school.

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon (L) shakes hands with US Mideast special envoy George Mitchell (R) as Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov (C) looks on before a meeting of the Quartet during the Millennium Development Goals Summit on September 21, 2010 at United Nations headquarters in New York.

The United Nations Secretary-General Ban Kin-moon (R) meets with the Foreign Minister of Egypt Ahmed Aboul Gheit September 29, 2010 during the 65th session of the General Assembly at the United Nations in New York.

The United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon (L) meets with Jordan's Queen Rania (C) and 12-year-old Nthabiseng Tshabalala from South Africa September 22, 2010 during the Millennium Development Goals Summit at the United Nations in New York. Queen Rania delivered the 1GOAL Education petition to get every child in school.

Martin Krause of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Asia-Pacific Regional Centre, speaks during a press conference, on December 2, 2010 during the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP-16), in the Mexican seaside resort of Cancun. Bickering over the fate of the Kyoto Protocol cast a cloud over talks on future climate action, with Japan putting its foot down and refusing to extend the treaty named for its ancient capital.

The United Nations peacekeepers guard the Golf Hotel, the headquarters of the new Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara, on December 6, 2010 in Abidjan. Incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo and his old rival Alassane Ouattara have both sworn themselves in as president and each pressed on as if he was in charge despite mediation attempts by South Africa's former president Thabo Mbeki. Gbagbo, 65, has defied international calls to cede power after the United Nations recognised Ouattara as the winner of the November 28 runoff vote, which was supposed to stabilise the country but has been marred by deadly violence.

United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, delivers the closing remarks in a UN forum on Climate Change: Supporting Implementation, at the Cancun Meese Convention Center on December 7, 2010, during the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP-16) held in Cancun, Mexico.

United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, participates in a press briefing after the days general assembly at the Aztec event center on December 7, 2010, during the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP-16) held in Cancun, Mexico.

A motocyclist drives past United Nations peacekeepers standing guard around the Golf Hotel in Abidjan on December 13, 2010, where Alassane Ouattara set up his headquarters. Troops loyal to Ivory Coast leader Laurent Gbagbo deployed around the hotel housing his internationally-backed rival, as the European Union planned sanctions against him. Heavily-armed fighters from the New Forces (FN), former rebels who have rallied to Gbagbo's long-time enemy Alassane Ouattara, adopted defensive combat positions in front of the Golf Hotel, alongside United Nations peacekeepers. Gbagbo loyalists, including members of the presidential guard and gendarmes in three trucks mounted with machine-guns, took control of two roads leading to the hotel.

A UN soldier from United Nations Protection Forces (UNPROFOR) on patrol shakes a child's hand during a quiet moment on March 07, 1993 in Sarajevo. The United Nations Protection Force were the primary UN peacekeeping troops in Croatia and in Bosnia and Herzegovina during the Yugoslav wars. They served between February 1992 and March 1995. The UNPROFOR was composed of nearly 39,000 personnel, and around 320 of these people were killed on duty.

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon (L) greets US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (R) just before a meeting of the Middle East Quartet during the Millennium Development Goals Summit on September 21, 2010 at United Nations headquarters in New York.