Maryam Bukar Hassan: From Poet to UN Global Advocate for Peace

The Power of Poetry and Peace

• 💡 Maryam Bukar Hassan, known as Alhan Islam, is the UN's first Global Advocate for Peace, harnessing storytelling and creativity to elevate peacebuilding.
• ✍️ Her poem, "Peace is a Verb," redefines peace not as an absence of war, but as a continuous choice of understanding, empathy, and action.

Lived Experience and Advocacy Roots

• 💔 Growing up in northern Nigeria, Maryam experienced interreligious violence and the abuse of her aunts, which fueled her early desire to speak out.
• 📝 At 13, she wrote a poem titled "Violence Has No Religion," challenging the notion that violence is acceptable based on religious or cultural norms.
• 🚀 A viral video of her poem led to a powerful impact, including a man stopping domestic abuse after watching it, demonstrating the reach of her message.

Finding and Amplifying Her Voice

• 👩‍👧‍👦 Supported by her mother, who encouraged her writing and public speaking, Maryam overcame shyness to become a confident advocate.
• 🎤 She was recognized as a spoken word artist at the first Kaduna Books and Art Festival, embracing the role of an advocate who speaks up against injustice.
• 📱 Maryam reconciles the toxicity of social media with its power as a tool for amplifying voices, advocating for using digital platforms to spread positive messages and counter misinformation.

True My Voice Initiative

• grief True My Voice was founded after her mother's passing to empower young people, especially women in northern Nigeria, to find and amplify their voices.
• 🌍 The initiative trains young storytellers in digital advocacy, provides small grants, and connects them to opportunities, fostering a generation of peacebuilders.
• 🤝 True My Voice has collaborated on impactful campaigns, including securing the release of hostages from a train attack and assisting stranded students during the Sudan crisis.

A Global Advocate's Perspective

• ⚖️ Her UN designation feels like a responsibility to translate suffering into action and a return to the communities that taught her the true cost of peace.
• 🌍 She carries the experiences of conflict-ridden regions in Nigeria and the resilience of women who find dignity amidst loss, aiming to bridge grief and policy.
• 🤝 As a global advocate, she is committed to bringing the costs of instability to the forefront and ensuring solutions are co-created with those who have lived experience.