AceShowbiz -

Has received numerous honor for his acting career, not to mention that of People's Sexiest Man Alive predicate, George Clooney has just been honored for his humanitarian work, being appointed as United Nations "messenger of peace."

Clooney's designation as U.N. Messenger of Peace was announced Friday, January 18 by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon. The movie hunk thus joins the likes of Michael Douglas and musician Yo-Yo Ma as previous celebrity U.N. honorees.

"You have seen first-hand the pain experienced by the victims of war and made it your personal mission to help end violence and human suffering," Moon said about Clooney's efforts to raise awareness of the Darfur crisis.

"Deeply honored to receive this appointment," Clooney stated he looked "forward to working with the United Nations in order to build public support for its critically important work in some of the most difficult, dangerous and dire places in the world."

Concerning his new duty, Clooney is set to promote the U.N.'s peacekeeping efforts in a location that will be assigned to him on January 31 at the world body's New York headquarters.