To mark this year’s International Day of Peace, the United Nations is releasing Peace is a Verb, a powerful spoken word piece by Nigerian poet and newly appointed UN Global Advocate for Peace, Maryam Bukar Hassan.
First performed at New York’s SummerStage festival in July 2025, Peace is a Verb reminds us that peace is not the responsibility of some but a shared duty in which everyone has a role to play. In a time of turbulence, uncertainty, and division, the poem echoes the UN call for action for a peaceful world.
Produced by the UN Department of Peace Operations, the video transforms the poet’s words into a message of hope and unity at a moment when such hope is urgently needed. On 22 September, Ms. Bukar Hassan will perform Peace is a Verb in front of world leaders during the opening ceremony of the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
Ms. Bukar Hassan will also take part in the launch of Hear Us. Act Now for a Peaceful World, a year-long global youth campaign organized by the UN Department of Global Communications in collaboration with young people and partners. The campaign calls for three catalytic actions championed by youth: inclusion, investment, and partnership to build peace. On 21 September, the International Day of Peace, the campaign will convene youth activists and world leaders in an intergenerational Peace Circle at UN Headquarters in New York to amplify these messages and inspire global action.
The International Day of Peace was established in 1981 by the United Nations General Assembly. Two decades later, in 2001, the Assembly unanimously voted to designate the Day as a period of non-violence and ceasefire.