Congratulations Tirana Hassan on being the recipient of the 2025 Global Australian Award, recognised for her extraordinary leaders...

Congratulations Tirana Hassan on being the recipient of the 2025 Global Australian Award, recognised for her extraordinary leadership in advancing human rights and humanitarian action worldwide. An Australian lawyer, social worker and human rights advocate, Tirana is the incoming Chief Executive Officer of Doctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières) USA, and the former Executive Director of Human Rights Watch. Across her career, she has led major global organisations dedicated to protecting human rights and delivering life-saving humanitarian assistance in some of the world’s most complex and urgent crises. Tirana began her career in Australia as a founding member of a refugee legal service established during the refugee crisis of 2000. She went on to work across the Middle East, Asia and Africa in international humanitarian operations, specialising in child protection and the protection of civilians in conflict and complex emergencies. From 2010 to 2015, Tirana served as a senior researcher in Human Rights Watch’s Emergencies Division, conducting dozens of in-depth investigations into serious human rights violations across multiple regions. She later became Director of Amnesty International’s Crisis Response Programme, where she led global teams of investigators and built interdisciplinary approaches that advanced innovative methodologies for human rights research, documentation and evidence collection. Tirana Hassan exemplifies the highest ideals of Australian leadership and global citizenship. Through her unwavering commitment to human rights, humanitarian protection and evidence-based advocacy, she has delivered impact where it is needed most — in the world’s most challenging and complex environments. Her career reflects the power of Australian values carried onto the global stage, and the profound difference one leader can make in advancing dignity, justice and humanity.