U.N. names 3rd female to lead General Assembly

This is the third time that the United Nations elected a woman to lead the General Assembly in its history.

"Throughout her professional life, Ambassador al-Khalifa has been a champion of women's rights in her society and in the court system," said Jan Eliasson, outgoing president of the 60th session. "Here at the United Nations, her election is a significant contribution to gender equality within the organization."

Khalifa served as Bahrain's ambassador to France from 2000 to 2004, as a non-resident ambassador to Belgium, Switzerland and Spain, and as a permanent delegate to the United Nation's Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. In Bahrain, she was o­ne of the first two women to practice law.

In her remarks to the General Assembly, Khalifa said, "The United Nations today faces challenges in many parts of the world which threaten global security and which require collective effort to confront and resolve them."

"What inspires me is a deep feeling of pain caused by the tragedies all over the world, o­n both the human and environmental levels," said Khalifa. "On the human level, suffering due to political disputes, wars, terrorism, poverty and malnutrition motivate me. o­n the environmental level, pollution, global warming, the depletion of natural resources and the extinction of living species drives me to try and make a difference."