Hannah McGlade facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Hannah McGlade
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| Born | 6 June 1969 |
| Alma mater | Murdoch University (Law Degree, Master's Degree in Law) Curtin University (PhD) |
| Scientific career | |
| Institutions | Curtin University |
| Thesis | Aboriginal children and the justice system (2010/2011) |
| Doctoral advisor | Linda Briskman |
| Member of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues for the Pacific |
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| Assumed office 1 January 2020 |
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Hannah McGlade is an important Indigenous Australian expert, human rights champion, and lawyer. She was born on June 6, 1969. She is a Kurin Minang Noongar woman from the Bibulman nation. As of May 2022, she is a professor at Curtin University's law school. She also works with the United Nations to protect the rights of Indigenous people around the world.
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Early Life and Learning
Hannah McGlade was born in Perth, Western Australia. She is part of the Noongar people, an Aboriginal Australian group. Their traditional lands are on the southwestern coast of Western Australia.
Hannah went to Murdoch University. In 1995, she earned her first law degree. She was the first Aboriginal woman to graduate with a law degree from any university in Western Australia. In 1996, she became a lawyer.
She continued her studies and earned a Master's Degree in Law in 2001. In 2011, she completed her PhD. Her research focused on Aboriginal children and their rights. Her PhD paper won a special award called the Stanner Award. This award is given to the best academic paper by an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander writer. Because she won, her paper was published as a book in 2012. The book was titled Our Greatest Challenge: Aboriginal children and human rights.
Working as an Expert
In 2016, Hannah McGlade became a Senior Indigenous Research Fellow at Curtin University. She is now an associate professor at Curtin Law School.
In 2020, she received a Churchill Fellowship. This allowed her to travel and study the Sámi Parliaments in Finland, Norway, and Sweden. The Sámi are Indigenous people in those countries.
Fighting for Rights
Hannah McGlade has worked for many years to protect human rights. She especially champions the rights of Aboriginal women and children.
In 2002, she took a federal senator to court. He had made comments that were unfair to Aboriginal Australians. Hannah won the case, showing that his comments went against the Racial Discrimination Act 1975. This law helps prevent unfair treatment based on race.
In 2016, Hannah began asking for a national plan to stop violence against women. Her efforts were successful. In 2020, she called for a special group to focus on violence against Aboriginal women and children. This group would work with a national organization called Our Watch.
Her work led to the creation of Djinda, the first service in Perth for victims of violence. She also became the first CEO of the Aboriginal Family Law Services.
Hannah has also spoken out about the destruction of a sacred site at Juukan Gorge in 2020. She said that governments and mining companies were harming the land. She believes we should listen to Aboriginal people who want to protect their land and culture. In 2021, a new law was suggested to prevent similar situations. However, Hannah and other Indigenous people felt they were not properly asked for their opinions. They asked the United Nations Committee to review the law. They believed it did not follow international rules about fairness.
In 2021, she also shared her concerns about the book Dark Emu. She felt it was not fully accurate and could be misleading to Aboriginal people.
Other Important Roles
In 2016, Hannah McGlade was appointed Senior Indigenous Fellow at the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva. She helps the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (EMRIP) there. This group advises the UN on Indigenous rights.
Since 2020, she has been a member of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. She represents the Pacific region in this important role.
Awards and Recognition
- 1996: West Australian NAIDOC Student of the Year Award
- 2008: WA NAIDOC Outstanding Achievement Award
- 2011: AIATSIS' Stanner Award for her PhD thesis
- 2020: Churchill Fellowship
- 2020: WA NAIDOC Outstanding Achievement Award
