Mr. Ban begins his stewardship on 1 January 2007 and will lead the Organization until 2016.

UN Secretary-General from 1 January 1997 to December 31, 2006, Mr. Annan's appointment marks the first for a UN staffer to emerge from the ranks and for a Sub-Saharan African to serve.

The General Assembly appoints Mr. Boutros-Ghali as Secretary-General, who serves from 1 January 1992 to 31 December 1996.

The General Assembly appoints Javier Perez de Cuellar to serve from 1 January 1982 to 31 December 1991.

The General Assembly appoints Mr. Waldheim to serve as Secretary-General of the United Nations. He serves two terms from 1 January 1972 to 31 December 1981.

The Charter imposes the imperative on all human beings to practice tolerance and to live together in peace with one another as good neighbors. To my mind this is the simplest definition of peaceful coexistence.” U Thant        

"The pursuit of peace and progress cannot end in a few years in either victory or defeat. The pursuit of peace and progress, with its trials and its errors, its successes and its setbacks, can never be relaxed and never abandoned." Dag Hammarskjöld

Mr. Lie serves as Secretary-General from 2 Feb 1946 to 10 April 1952. In his address to the General Assembly, he emphasized, “The future of the whole civilized world is at stake."