Aaron Hape | |
|---|---|
| Nationality | New Zealand |
| Education | Victoria University of Wellington Palmerston North Boys' High School Southwell School |
| Relatives | Frank Barclay (great-grandfather) Wattie Barclay (grand-uncle) |
| Awards | Fellow,Royal Society of Arts Associate Fellow,Royal Commonwealth Society New Zealander of the Year Local Hero Medal Sir Āpirana Ngata Memorial Scholarship |
Aaron Hape is aFellow of the Royal Society of Arts and in 2017 became the first person ofMāori descent to be invested as an Associate Fellow of theRoyal Commonwealth Society.
Hape was raised inDannevirke and undertook his early education atSouthwell School andPalmerston North Boys' High School. He gained a Bachelor of Arts fromVictoria University of Wellington and is an alumnus of theUnited States Department of State'sInternational Visitor Leadership Program.[1][2][3]
Hape's great-grandfather is New Zealand rugby league footballerFrank Barclay and his grand-uncle isNew Zealand Māori Rugby Team captain and military officerWattie Barclay.
He is a supporter ofconstitutional monarchy in New Zealand and is an ambassador for the New Zealand Women's Refuge.[4][5] Hape is affiliated with the iwiNgāti Kahungunu ki Wairarapa Tāmaki nui-a-Rua.
Hape is the founder ofCommonwealth Youth New Zealand.[6][7] From 2014 to 2017 he served as the organisation's inaugural executive director. During his tenure, Hape was appointed as a Member of the Advisory Panel for theQueen's Young Leader Award.[4][8][9] Sponsored by British charitiesComic Relief and the Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Trust, the programme recognised leadership skills by young persons aged between 19 and 29 years old who were citizens of member states of the Commonwealth of Nations.
Hape was appointed by the then-Commonwealth Secretary-General,Kamalesh Sharma, to serve as a Member of theCommonwealth Observer Group for the2015 Trinidad and Tobago general election.[10] The group, led by the formerSpeaker of the National Parliament of the Solomon Islands,Sir Paul Tovua, found that the election met theCommonwealth's standards for democratic elections and stated that it was conducted in a "credible and transparent manner".[11]
Subsequently, Hape stated that the Commonwealth was "in urgent need of a renewed purpose".[12] In the lead-up to the2015 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting he publicly called on delegates to consider selecting a Secretary-General who could bring a broader range of experience than he claimed that previous office holders held and maintained that the new leader would have to "unify the leadership and aspirations of Commonwealth societies and groups behind the work of the Secretariat".[9]
In 2016, Hape raised concerns about the rule of law in theRepublic of Maldives after theCommonwealth Ministerial Action Group noted that the country had been failing to uphold human rights and that democratic standards were deteriorating.[13] In response to the arrest of the then-opposition leader Sheikh Imran Abdulla, he argued that the government of the Maldives "reacted with a show of force rather than take steps to rectify these very serious issues with the rule of law and transparency".[14][15] The countrywithdrew its membership of the Commonwealth in October 2016 and rejoined in February 2020.
In August 2016, Hape was selected to join the inaugural Timor Leste-New Zealand Dialogue - known as the "Timor Talks".[16] The dialogue aimed to build cultural and diplomatic ties between the two countries and built on the Asia New Zealand Foundation's existingTrack II diplomacy programme. In 2019, he went on to found theWorld Economic Forum's Global Shapers Community group inWellington, New Zealand, which implements social justice projects that advance the mission of World Economic Forum.[3]
Hape was awarded theSir Āpirana Ngata Memorial Scholarship in 2010.[17] In 2014, he was named as one of the inaugural recipients of theMinister for Youth Affairs Leadership Award.[17]
In recognition of his work in the Commonwealth he was awarded aNew Zealander of the Year Local Hero Medal and was named as a finalist for the Young Wellingtonian of the Year Award in 2015.[18][19][20] In addition was he elected as aFellow of the Royal Society of Arts and as an Associate Fellow of theRoyal Commonwealth Society in 2017.