Professor Megan Davis re-elected to the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues

The Australian Government has welcomed the re-election of Professor Megan Davis, to the United Nations (UN) Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.

Professor Davis was elected for a second term at the meeting of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) on 25 April in New York.
Australia is rightly proud that our outstanding Indigenous candidate was re-elected as a member of the pre-eminent UN body for Indigenous issues for another three year term.

Australia is a long-standing supporter of the Forum, which acts as an advisory body to ECOSOC, and provides expert advice on a wide range of Indigenous issues including economic and social development, culture, the environment, education, health and human rights.

Since Professor Davis’ initial election to the Forum in 2010 she has proven herself to be an active and highly valued member, including holding the portfolios of gender and women, and administration of justice.

A distinguished lawyer with over 15 years’ experience in Indigenous international advocacy at the UN, Professor Davis also researches and teaches in the field of Indigenous peoples and international law, Indigenous peoples and constitutional law and violence against Indigenous women.

While Professor Davis was nominated by the Australian Government, she will serve as one of 16 independent experts – eight nominated by governments and elected by ECOSOC members, and eight nominated by Indigenous NGOs and appointed by the President of ECOSOC.

The Government’s nomination of and support for Professor Davis’s re-election to the Forum is a clear demonstration of its ongoing commitment to strengthening the relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians based on mutual trust, respect and understanding.

This will be Professor Davis’s final term on the Forum.