Introduction: I Will Not Ban Anything

Abstract

Korean diplomat Ban Ki-moon became the first Secretary-General from East Asia on 1 January 2007, at a daunting time for international affairs. Ban Ki-moon desired to inject new momentum into the search for peace and stability in the Middle East, Afghanistan, Iraq, and to address the challenges posed by Darfur and Somalia, and the status of Kosovo. As a “middle of the road” man, as taught by Confucius, Ban Ki-moon tried to maintain harmonious relations in dealing with international affairs. His leadership style and results received criticism, but the Secretary-General was vindicated by the public support and acclamations by UN Member States for preserving the integrity of his office.

The sources for this book are UN documents, press releases and meetings coverage of the Security Council, General Assembly, Economic and Social Council , as well as other United Nations bodies. UN documents from the General Assembly, Security Council, Human Rights Council , Economic and Social Council and others are available on the UN documents website—https://www.un.org/en/documents/index.html—searched by symbol (e.g. A/72/1). Press releases and meetings coverage of the Security Council, General Assembly and other United Nations bodies are available on the website of the Meetings Coverage Section, United Nations Department of Public Information—https://www.un.org/press/en/advanced-search—under their symbol (e.g. SC/9021) or title (e.g. Press Conference by United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon) or/and date. The author has limited the facts of publication in the notes to a symbol, a meeting number and a date in most cases. The information on an access date and a URL is not referenced at each point as it is possible to positively identify and locate each source without them and accordingly to reduce the notes’ extent.