ELP2020 Occ AH 2020-2021

Speaker:

Michelle Yeoh (born 6 August 1962) is a Malaysian actress who is best known
internationally for her roles in James Bond’s film ‘Tomorrow Never Dies’, martial arts film
‘Crouching Tiger, Hidder Dragon and more recently in Netflix’s ‘Star Trek: Discovery’. In 2016
Yeoh, as the UN Goodwill Ambassador for UNDP committed to working with the UN
Development Programme to fight global poverty and inequality.

Speech Transcript:
Mr. President, Miroslav Lajcak. Excellencies. Thank you for granting me the honour to
address you this morning in my role as goodwill ambassador for the UN Development
Programme. Thank you Secretary-General for sharing your inspiring vision.

Over the past couple of years as UNDP Goodwill Ambassador, I have met many men,
women and children who have been forced from their homes, who are struggling to make
ends meet, who have been left behind. In many cases their suffering was caused by
violence, conflict or crisis. As the Secretary-General pointed out, more countries have
experienced conflict over the last few years than at any time in the past three decades.
What's more, these conflicts are becoming more drawn-out, complex and deadlier, as
civilians are no longer casualties but have become targets. An estimated 65.6 million people
are now forcibly displaced from their homes primarily due to violence and conflict. The
number of refugees nearly doubled over the past decade.

Adding to the tragedy and heartbreak is the fact that more than half of the world's refugees
are children, many of whom who have been separated from their families. If the current
trend continues, by 2030, the year in which we hope to achieve the 17 sustainable
development goals, more than half of the world's poor will be living in countries affected by
high levels of violence.

Violent conflict affects men and women in very different ways. Too often women and girls
fall prey to sexual and gender-based violence. They become victims of human trafficking,
sexual slavery and forced marriage. For children and youth, the devastating long-term of
suffering through violence and conflict can lead to psychological trauma and can have
negative impacts on cognitive and social development. It can also put them at risk of
perpetrating violence or becoming victims of violence in later life. The human cost of war
and violence is tragic, devastating and simply too high, but the financial costs borne by the
affected countries, regions and the international communities are also enormous wide-
reaching and have long-term consequences.

Much of the efforts and resources of the international community amounting to hundreds
of billions of dollars have been dedicated to responding to crisis once they have already
broken out. What we should be doing instead is preventing conflict in the first place, it could
save countless lives and billions of dollars.

The UN Charter establishes the prevention of violent conflict as the overriding objective of
the United Nations, with the aim to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war.

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Conflict prevention is our mandate and we need to be able to fulfil it. Re-balancing the UN's
focus from reaction to prevention is at the heart of the sustaining peace agenda. I thank the
Secretary-General for declaring prevention the priority of the UN. This includes not just the
prevention of violent conflict for which the concept of sustaining peace is critical but the
prevention of crisis and human suffering including through actions such as combating
climate change and ensuring disaster preparedness, and we must not forget empowerment
of women. The resolutions on sustaining peace place great emphasis on conflict prevention;
they also underline the importance of inclusion and the essential role women play in the
process.

Inclusivity means staying true to the 2030 agenda pledged to leave no one behind. Inclusive
and sustained peace building means the full participation of women in society without
which neither peace nor prosperity can be assured over the long term.

Women's empowerment transforms our communities and makes peace more sustainable.
Evidence shows that peace building interventions are more effective if they are directly tied
to promoting gender equality. What's more, women should be active agents in peace
negotiations and peace building not merely beneficiaries of services who need protection.
The inclusion of women and women's groups in conflict resolution and peace building
processes measurably strengthens protection efforts, deepens the effectiveness of peace
building and helps to ensure the sustainability of peace accords.

The UN agency I work most closely with, UNDP, knows from experience that this is the most
effective approach. Supporting the capacity of countries to prevent violent conflict and
sustained peace and include women in the process is a major part of UNDP’s work. For
example, in Malawi UNDP and the UN Department of political affairs supported the
government in establishing a national peace architecture that enables women and youth to
act as national conflict mediators. Gender equality contributes to durable peace and
sustainable development. Systematic disparities between women and men in the economic,
social and political sectors stand in the way of sustainable development and durable peace.
Women need to be engaged in all spheres of social life and their priorities must inform the
agenda for sustainable development, conflict prevention, early recovery from crises, lasting
peace and resilience. To make this a reality necessary funds and resources need to be
allocated to advance gender equality and women's empowerment especially in peace-
building contexts.

Promoting both the empowerment of women and maintenance of peace and inclusive
societies are key elements of the 2030 agenda for sustainable development. UNDP and
other UN agencies have made women's empowerment and sustainable development the
centrepiece of their efforts to help support and promote peaceful, just and inclusive
societies. UN agencies have been undertaking such prevention focused initiatives in many
parts of the world. For instance, thanks to his field presence in nearly a 170 countries and
the breadth of his technical expertise, UNDP is able to provide tailored and integrated
support to Nations and their leadership in many areas, including the rule of law, access to
justice, human rights, elections, constitutional processes, local governance, sustainable
livelihoods and climate adaptation.

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The fundamental premise of the recently released UN World Bank pathways for peace
report is that we simply cannot achieve the 17 sustainable development goals without
addressing and preventing conflict. In fact, the sustainable development goals provide a
blueprint to help to eliminate the root causes of violence and unrest. Building and sustaining
peace sits at the very core of the United Nations being.

If we are to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war sustainable development
is imperative, but development is neither achievable nor sustainable in the absence of
peace. It is critical that we work in concert tours attaining both sustainable peace and
sustainable development. As we know, UN member states carry the key responsibility to
achieve and sustain peace. Realizing lasting peace is a long-term endeavour that involves
building resilient institutions, securing economic transformation and addressing inequalities
and grievances that can lead to conflict. We must recognize that this process can take years
and even decades, and we need to give the UN system the time, space and resources to
pursue such long-term strategies that yield lasting results.

Let's focus this high-level meeting on how we can work together to strengthen the UN's
abilities to deliver on its mandate to eradicate the root causes of conflict, prevent the
escalation of violence, bring about lasting peace and leave no one behind. Thank you.

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Questions

Note: The lines added for the questions below are merely indicative of the preferred length.
Write your answers on a separate Word document which you will later convert to PDF in
order to upload it on WISEflow. It is recommended that font Calibri size 12 is used when typing
your response.

Answer the following questions. Please note the following:

1 Who is the target audience and what is the purpose of the speech?

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[5 marks]

2 Ethos refers to the credibility of the speaker. Identify two such instances in the speech
by quoting the relevant part of the speech using inverted commas. Then explain the
effectiveness of both instances.

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[9 marks]

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3 Pathos describes the ability of a speaker to evoke the emotions of the audience. Identify
two such instances in the speech by quoting the relevant part of the speech using
inverted commas. Then explain the effectiveness of both instances.

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[9 marks]

4 Speakers often draw on reliable sources to strengthen the logic of their arguments.
Identify two such instances in the speech by quoting the relevant part of the speech
using inverted commas. Then explain the effectiveness of both instances.

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[9 marks]

5 Identify two different persuasive techniques the speaker uses and discuss how
effective they are (e.g. parallelism, analogy, lists of three, repetition, anaphora,
questions, juxtapositioning, etc.).

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[9 marks]

6 Briefly explain the rhetorical structure/organisation of this speech.

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[9 marks]