Young people in South Sudan who have experienced years of conflict are calling for sustained peace through poems, in a new initiative launched by UNICEF on Friday.

Marking World Poetry Day, the Poems for Peace initiative draws attention to the plight of the millions of children living in conflict zones worldwide, for whom peace has become a distant memory.

 “The words of these young aspiring poets carry a resounding message. Children and young people living through the horrors of war have had enough,” said Paloma Escudero, UNICEF Director of Communication.

She added, “As the battle against COVID-19 continues, we need peace, kindness and solidarity more than ever.”

The Poems for Peace series features children and young people from conflict-affected countries including Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Iraq, Mali, Somalia, South Sudan, Syria, Ukraine and Yemen reading their poems to camera. Using clips from the individual videos, UNICEF has created a short film creating one powerful poem out of all of those submitted.

In the poem submitted by Esther Ayak John from Juba, one of the paragraphs read:

Welcome back, the dove of peace

That moves from continent to continent

Looking for a place to build its nest

Where love has made her blessings rest.

World Poetry Day celebrates one of humanity’s most treasured forms of cultural and linguistic expression and identity. Poems have long been a catalyst for dialogue and peace and united people and cultures in a common humanity and shared values.