The United Nations (UN) is setting up funds to support families of UN personnel killed in the line of duty.

"We have so many UN (personnel), international or national, who are unfortunately (killed in action). They need your help," UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said.

He, however, said the details of how the fund will operate are still being determined, but the funds raised will go to the relatives of UN staff killed in the line of duty.

The UN sends personnel in various humanitarian and peace operations worldwide.

An upcoming fund-raising event will be hosted by Princess Haya Bint Al Hussein, who was appointed as a UN Messenger of Peace in 1997.

Princess Haya Bint Al Hussein is the daughter of King Hussein Bin Talal and Queen Alia Al Hussein of Jordan. She is married to Sheik Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Vice President and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

A Filipina, Perseveranda So, had been among the fatalities of a suicide bombing at the Pearl Continental Hotel in Peshawar, Pakistan in June this year. So was the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) chief of Education in Pakistan.

In August 2003, the Canal Hotel bombing in Baghdad, Iraq claimed the lives of 22 UN staff members, including the world body's top envoy in Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello, and