Mariam Al Jaajaa, 37, arrived in Nairobi to attend the 6th session of the UN Environment Assembly (Unea-6).
But she saw this as an environment to send a message to President William Ruto: Palestine, her home, needs his voice to bring peace.
Mariam was born and raised in Gaza City in the Gaza Strip. So when she packed her bags for Nairobi on Sunday, she knew she was leaving behind a country under constant bombardment from Israel.
On Monday, she led a silent protest as Unea-6 began at the UN Complex in Gigiri, Nairobi.
In an interview with the Nation, she said all she wanted was for President Ruto, a man she sees as a climate champion for Africa and the global South, to lend them his voice.
Speaking with tears streaming down her cheeks, she pleaded with President Ruto to speak to other world leaders and help save 2.3 million Palestinians from being decimated.
Some 26,000 Palestinians have been killed since the war in Gaza began in October last year. But it began when Hamas, the militant group that controls Gaza, launched unprecedented attacks on Israel, killing more than 1,500 people and kidnapping 200 others. What followed was a series of condemnations.
President Ruto initially expressed solidarity with Israel and condemned the Hamas attack. But he later backtracked, calling for a ceasefire and a political solution to the conflict. That hasn't helped end the war, and Israel has since been accused of using starvation as well as chemical weapons to hunt down Hamas. Yet speaking out against it could help, says Mariam.
"We are no longer afraid of bombs, but we are afraid of starving to death and that is why I am here, to try to be the voice of my people," she begins.
Mariam Al Jaajaa, Executive Director, Arab Group for the Protection of Nature during the Sixth Session of the United Nations Environment Assembly at Unep headquarters in Nairobi on 26 February 2024.
Photo credit: Evans Habil | Nation Media Group
“This is a system of oppression based on genocide and colonialism, that aims to displace a population of a nation (oftentimes indigenous people) and replace it with a new settler population,” she explained.
Israel has been accused of genocide, and the issue is now before the International Court of Justice after South Africa took it to court over the Gaza war. Israel denies genocide but has also refused a ceasefire. Officials say at least 17,000 children in Gaza have died from a combination of bombing and malnutrition.
On Sunday, the World Food Programme announced that it had been forced to halt aid deliveries to northern Gaza because of the violence and collapse of civil order.
"All these things have a huge impact on the people, so I am here to ask President William Ruto and Kenya to help before we perish into oblivion."
Mariam, who came to Nairobi alone on Sunday, says she has mobilised other young delegates from around the world attending the UNEA-6 conference to join the 'silent protest' and help raise awareness.
"We need help to stop the ongoing genocide, I don't understand why world leaders are gathering here and talking about restoring the country when they are watching nuclear bombs destroy our country," she asks.
President Ruto was expected to address Unea-6 later in the week where he could use the podium to address the linkage between war, pollution and climate change and how it will affect future generations.
