From international conflict zones to policy negotiations, Bond alumna Yvette Zegenhagen OAM is shaping the future of humanitarian law and diplomacy.
Throughout her career at the Australian Red Cross, Bond University alumna Yvette Zegenhagen OAM has sat at tables with representatives from many countries, most often amid conflict and crisis.
A meeting several years ago on the issue of healthcare workers being targeted in areas of armed conflict included two individuals: one responsible for the operations of the Israeli National Society and the other, the Palestinian Red Crescent. Despite their differences, they didn’t meet with animosity or tension but with open arms.
“They just embraced each other and had a deep, deep respect for each other,” recalls Yvette. “You could see their common humanity and how deeply committed they were to work through the challenges they could see in their respective environments.
“When you can imagine the pressure different national societies might be under, it really symbolises what the Red Cross and Red Crescent movement can do and how we can come together in humanity and overcome what seems insurmountable.” It is one of many moving moments that reaffirmed Yvette's decision to dedicate her career to international humanitarian law.
Destined to make a difference
The decision to study a Bachelor of Laws and Bachelor of International Relations at Bond was driven by Yvette’s desire to help people.
“When I was in school, I thought I might do that through music, being a lawyer, or maybe joining the circus,” she laughs. “I ended up thinking that law was a more practical way of using my education to make a difference in the world.”
After graduating from Bond, Yvette worked as a commercial litigation lawyer in Melbourne but she knew it wouldn’t be long term. “To me, it was always about using law and policy to create change,” she explains.
Yvette moved into international humanitarian law ‘almost by accident’, but admits it was unsurprising. Both sides of her family have personal connections to the Red Cross movement which run deep.
Her maternal grandmother was studying international law when the Second World War cut her studies short. Surviving the horrors of the Second World War, she was nursed back to health by medical personnel wearing the Red Cross symbol. She met Yvette’s grandfather in France and when they came to Australia, they were reconnected with loved ones thanks to the Red Cross International Tracing Service.
Yvette's paternal grandmother volunteered for the Red Cross during the Second World War.
“Growing up it was always impressed upon me how lucky we were to be in Australia where we were safe, where we had access to so many different opportunities like education,” she says. “It was always in the back of my mind that not everyone had those same opportunities and we should pay it forward because my family coming to Australia after the Second World War was only by luck.”
Leading in challenging circumstances
Yvette joined the Australian Red Cross in 2011 as an international humanitarian law officer, rising through the ranks to become the area’s director. She is now the executive director of external engagement and leads the organisation’s diplomacy functions, including the international humanitarian law program, First Nations centrality, and stakeholder engagement.
Yvette says it’s been a fulfilling experience.“I get this beautiful combination of stewarding the entire workforce of staff members and volunteers through periods of great change and huge humanitarian challenges as a member of the executive team, and leading the organisation's humanitarian diplomacy, so that Australian Red Cross can have robust conversations with decision-makers and leaders globally to try and create impact and change at scale for those who need it most.”
Yvette’s day-to-day can be anything from navigating counter-terrorism legislation and its impact on principled humanitarian action, mentoring emerging leaders within the organisation and the broader International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, or highlighting the protective power of the Red Cross and Red Crescent emblem in the new digital world.
One of her concerns is the way humanitarian issues are used as political weapons in a fragile geopolitical landscape.
“Red Cross often works at the pointy end of humanitarian crises, disasters, and emergencies or armed conflict. They're being increasingly politicised and there's more mis- and disinformation,” says Yvette.
“For a neutral, non-political, independent organisation, it becomes incredibly difficult to have a strong humanitarian voice that isn't seen as leaning one side or the other, but to also recognise human suffering is universal, the scale of which is not always the same.
“How do you navigate those spaces in a way that isn't partisan but also doesn't leave you unable to say anything?”
The best of humanity in the worst of times
Yvette has been with the Red Cross for more than 14 years. During that time, she married her husband — whom she met at Bond — and welcomed two children into their family. In 2024, Yvette was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for her service to international law. She also chairs Australia’s National International Humanitarian Law Committee.
While she’s not a circus star, Yvette remains as driven to create change as she was when she was a teenager, and hopes to lead the Red Cross into a more united and understanding world.
“I think we would like to see an Australia and a world that is less divisive and less black and white about right and wrong because there are so many shades of grey,” says Yvette.
“Tackling any humanitarian issue when things become divisive, and there’s a ‘you're with me or against me’ type of attitude, becomes so difficult.
“The role the Red Cross can play is bringing us all together and making people remember there is a common humanity there for us, to enable strong and resilient communities to flourish.
"I think being able to model the best of what humanity can be, in the worst of what humanity can be, is quite an interesting dichotomy.”
Published on 26 February, 2025.
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