ANGELA King, the late former United Nations special adviser on gender issues and the advancement of women, was yesterday hailed by new UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon for her work with the international organisation.

King died Monday after losing a battle with cancer.

In a statement issued by his spokesperson in New York yesterday, Ki-moon praised King’s efforts that led to the empowerment of women with “knowledge, passion and courage”. The Jamaican, the UN boss added, was a “fervent champion of the equality of women and men, and women’s enjoyment of their human rights”.

The UN secretary general said the commitment with which King approached her job was also patterned within the organisation itself as she was equally committed to championing the cause of women staff members in the United Nations and their equal opportunities in the workplace.

“She will be mourned with profound affection and respect by many friends and allies around the world,” Ki-moon said, in extending condolences to King’s family.

Yesterday, Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller and Opposition Leader Bruce Golding also praised King’s work at the United Nations.

“Jamaica and the international community have lost a pioneering champion in the achievement of women within the United Nations. She was an outstanding Jamaican whose service to the international community touched and improved the lives of many people across the world,” said the prime minister in a statement from Jamaica House.

King, the prime minister added, made Jamaica “truly proud” through outstanding work in the areas of human rights, social and economic development and equality for the disadvantaged.

“She has left a legacy that we should use in furthering the cause for a better quality of life for all mankind,” said Simpson Miller.

Expressing similar sentiments, Golding stated that other than her distinguished career, King was “a lady of utmost dignity and consummate charm who brought great credit to her country”.

Both leaders conveyed sympathy and condolences to her family and colleagues.

Moving from the Permanent Mission of Jamaica to the UN, King joined the UN Secretariat in 1966 where she gave decades of distinguished service in the areas of women’s rights, human rights and social development until her retirement in 2004.

Among other positions she held at the UN were director of recruitment, deputy to the head of human resources development, and chief of the Central Programme Evaluation Unit. She was also chief of the UN Observer Mission to South Africa at the time of that country’s first democratic elections in 1994, and was credited with having paved the way for the Security Council’s landmark resolution 1325 on women, peace and security, as well as effecting the Beijing Platform for Action and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women.