After she left office, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon chose her as the first head of UN Women, which combined four U.N. bodies dealing with the advancement of women under a single umbrella.

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"It is quite a complicated issue because it is international law we are dealing with, " said Niklas Hedman, chief of the Committee Services and Research Section of the U.N.

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And he pointed to the United Nations' record of dealing with other humanitarian crises in an effort to balance some of the criticism that has been leveled at U.N. staff.

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