UN General Assembly re-elects Ban Ki-moon as Secretary-General

June 22nd, 2011 - 8:14 am ICT by BNO News  

UNITED NATIONS (BNO NEWS) — The United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday agreed to re-elect Ban Ki-moon as Secretary-General, his second consecutive term at the helm of the 192-member organization.

Ban, 67, was appointed as UN Secretary-General after the General Assembly adopted a resolution which was adopted by acclamation. The new term of the South Korean national will run from January 1, 2012 until December 31, 2016. He is the eighth man to serve as UN head.

The decision by the General Assembly followed a recommendation from the UN Security Council. Last Friday, the 15-member Council unanimously voted for the re-appointment of Ban in a closed-door meeting at the UN headquarters in New York.

Several weeks before the vote, Ban formally offered to serve a second consecutive term as Secretary-General of the United Nations by sending a letter to the Member States of the General Assembly and Security Council. No other candidate opposed Ban for the UN leadership.

The current UN head took office in January 2007. In his four and a half years as Secretary-General, Ban has accomplished the elevation of climate change to the top of the global agenda and the continued focus on the needs of the world’s most vulnerable people, particularly during the global economic crisis.

During his tenure as Secretary-General, Ban has supervised the response to humanitarian emergencies, such as Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar, last year’s floods in Pakistan and the earthquake that leveled much of Haiti’s capital in January 2010.

In addition, Ban has promoted efforts to achieve peace in Sudan, Somalia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast), as well as the countries involved in this year’s unrest in the Middle East and North Africa.

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