Michelle Yeoh gets new UN role
NEW YORK: Actress Tan Sri Michelle Yeoh, who is also the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) goodwill ambassador, has been given another role by the international body.
In her new role, Yeoh will raise awareness and mobilise support for the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), launched in 2016, to end poverty by 2030.
On the first anniversary of the earthquake that devastated Nepal in April 2015, Yeoh visited the country to get first-hand information on the damage.
Recounting her time there, Yeoh said: “My terrifying experience was when the earth rattled. It made me realise the importance of preparing for disaster long before it happens.”
In May 2016, Yeoh teamed up with a pair of panda cubs, the UNDP’s so-called “animal ambassadors”, to kick off the Pandas for the Global Goals campaign.
“I joined forces with two adorable panda babies to get the public interested and engaged in supporting the global goals because, who doesn’t love pandas?” she said during her visit to Chengdu Panda Base.
“Our aim is to show that each and every one of us can play an active part in reaching a globally-shared vision of a future without poverty, inequality or climate change.”
Yeoh has been emphasising preventive diplomacy to mitigate or eliminate conflicts. Weeks earlier, she joined world leaders and opinion-makers at a meeting on Peacebuilding and Sustaining Peace here.