Ban Ki Moon in person

Last Friday, I attended a public speaking event by none other than the United Nations Secretary-General himself, Ban Ki Moon!

The turnout was overwhelming- when my friend and I reached Central Hall Westminster, we saw this snaking queue going around the building and back. It took us about half an hour to get inside.

Obviously, we had to get seats with a good view. Here's a video of the Sec-Gen himself, in person. Pardon the horrendous quality as it was recorded on my phone.

My first impression of the man, through an introductory video clip that screened at the beginning of the event, was that he was a typical kind grandfatherly figure. He had no airs and seemed very friendly and approachable. His voice is completely how I would not have expected it- jovial and enthusiastic.

A little about Ban Ki Moon's past

Ban Ki Moon began the event with a speech, followed by a Q&A session. During Mr Ban's speech, he mentioned his experience as a 6 year old, fleeing his home with his family as the Korean war broke out. His family had nowhere to go and the United Nations was one of the biggest beacons of hope during those dark days. UNICEF provided him with medicine, "small toys", textbooks and notes . He talked about how grateful he was to the UN, and about how he would not be standing in front of the crowd that day it hadn't been for the assistance provided that aided the survival of him and his family.

What he was most impassioned about

Mr Ban briefly touched on the many recent world issues plaguing us today- the Ebola outbreak, lack of access to education for children worldwide, and the Syrian humanitarian crisis. However, he seemed to be most passionate about the issue of climate change. Mr Ban brought up climate change very frequently, reminding the audience that all we have is one planet. He introduced the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda, of which I was unsure of many of the details.

He was in particular a huge advocate of "prevention, rather than countering". He spoke about addressing the symptoms rather than allow a fire to break out. It was his stand on the Syrian refugee crisis and on his favourite topic, climate change.

His take on social equality

Ban Ki Moon advocated for the economic empowerment of women, a cause strongly supported by many in the audience. In fact, the moment it was mentioned, he received a giant applause from someone in the audience, and the rest of us followed. He spoke about his hopes of having equal representation of women in top management boards and in the UN leadership. He also reiterated the benefits of having women in leadership positions. 

He was also an advocate of LGBT rights, even though he did not go into much detail during his speech or Q&A session. He briefly explained why prejudices are present in societies- when people try to alienate and vilify what they do not understand.

My thoughts

Ban Ki Moon was passionate man who really felt what he was doing. You could feel it in his speeches and his approach to the questions posed to him. There was a very raw and personal touch to the things he said. 

However, I left with the impression that the event was too much fluff and not enough practicality. My friend agreed with me. His take on many topics was very touch-and-go, very generic, and I could feel he was trying to avoid delving into the trickier topics. Don't get me wrong, I can completely understand the situation he is in. He is under a lot of media attention. He has pressure from numerous world leaders who needed answers and reassurance that their positions would be carefully considered. Even as ordinary people, sometimes the things we say can be twisted and miscontrued into something unintended by people with an agenda, let alone an important figure like him.

That said, while I am conscious of the tricky position he is in, I feel that it was a pity we, as a group, could not go deeper into the more controversial issues. I would have loved to find out what he really thought about military intervention (after all, he was a strong advocate of prevention rather than cure). I wanted to ask him how he intended to improve the epidemic of violence against women in the world. In fact, asking him what he felt about Donald Trump would have created quite a comical talking point (and probably a heated discussion with Trump supporters in the audience). :D It was unfortunately a very constrained environment for discussion for all of us present at the event, but at least, the experience was enriching. 

Don't fret if you've missed the event in London on 5th Feb- you can listen to his full speech below.