Rez Gardi
Young New Zealander of the Year
2017
University of Canterbury
Young New Zealander of the Year
Te Mātātahi o te Tau
Rez Gardi
Rez was born in a United Nations refugee camp in Pakistan as her Kurdish family escaped persecution in their home land of Kurdistan. She is now a practising international lawyer, Harvard Satter Human Rights Fellow, and human rights
advocate. Arriving in New Zealand with nothing, Rez sought to use her difficult start in life as motivation to succeed, becoming New Zealand’s first female Kurdish lawyer. She graduated as a Fulbright Scholar with a Master of Laws from Harvard Law School. She is the first Kurd in history to graduate from Harvard Law.
advocate. Arriving in New Zealand with nothing, Rez sought to use her difficult start in life as motivation to succeed, becoming New Zealand’s first female Kurdish lawyer. She graduated as a Fulbright Scholar with a Master of Laws from Harvard Law School. She is the first Kurd in history to graduate from Harvard Law.
She is Co-Managing Director for Refugees Seeking Equal Access at the Table (R-SEAT), a refugee-led international initiative working to enhance the effectiveness of global refugee responses, by co-designing mechanisms to amplify refugee leadership ecosystems and increase the participation of refugees at state levels in a meaningful, sustainable, and transformative
way.
way.
She is the founder of ‘Empower’ — a refugee-youth-led organization aiming to address the underrepresentation of refugees in higher education. Through their projects, they empower and enable refugee youth through education, leadership, and capacity-building, so that young refugees can pursue a meaningful future. Through her work, she has reached over 20,000 refugee youth globally.
She is a co-founder and adjunct research fellow for the Centre for the Asia Pacific Refugee Studies, an academic institution based at the University of Auckland, which responds to challenges of forced displacement through evidence-based scholarship and high-impact
research to inform positive approaches to support people forcibly displaced by both climate change and conflict induced displacement.
research to inform positive approaches to support people forcibly displaced by both climate change and conflict induced displacement.
The leaders of tomorrow, brimming with the potential to build a bright future for Aotearoa. These people strive to improve themselves, their communities, and their nation.
Nominees of this Award must:
- Be aged between 15-30 years, at the open of nominations on 24 July 2024.
- Have had significant positive impact over the past 12 months.
- Be a role model for young New Zealanders and highlight that change is possible at any age.
- Meet the Awards Conditions of Entry.
Judges will review each nominee using the following criteria:
- 10 points: OVERALL INSPIRATION
Describe the person you are nominating and what they’ve done to inspire you over the past year to nominate them as 2025 University of Canterbury Young New Zealander of the Year Te Mātātahi o te Tau. - 10 points: PURPOSE:
Who benefits from this person’s work, contribution, or influence – and how? - 10 points: LEADERSHIP:
How does this person set a positive example for other young people and showing them the potential for change. - 10 points: COMMITMENT:
Describe the commitment of time, risks, and challenges overcome to create an impact to this point (this may still be ongoing). What have they done that has gone above and beyond to show leadership, create change, and give back? - 10 points: PROVEN IMPACT:
How has this person clearly demonstrated a positive impact in their area of influence? How has this been measured? - 10 points: LONG-TERM IMPACT:
If known, how does the nominee plan to grow and/or adapt their work, contribution, or influence in the future? How would winning this award impact this person and the work that they are doing?
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