Lauren's story
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I would advise anyone not to be intimidated by the challenge of it. It’s a fantastic opportunity to grow your skillset and your knowledge.” lauren banham
International Dvelopment BA
“I founded Legal Pact for the Future in March 2023 when I was in my first year. I had worked in UN spaces for a few years and I was aware that we shared the same frustrations about the lack of enforcement which made it hard for things to come to fruition.
We wanted to focus on enforceable rights and building the judicial architecture to support these. We felt that a focus on both rights for people and rights for nature was important as the law can mirror and catalyse the necessary change to shift in our relationship with nature. We want to see a redistribution of human rights among the regional courts, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights, to enable everyone to have equal access to the law.
I came to Sussex after a chance conversation. I began working with Peace Child International at the age of 17 and met Sir Richard Jolly, who was the second Director of the Institute of Development Studies in the 1970s, when I did some work relating to the United Nations’ 75th anniversary. He asked what I was thinking of studying and I said international development. His response was, “So are you going to Sussex?” I hadn’t considered Sussex before then but when the time came to look at options, it was a no-brainer.
When I first came to Sussex, I found writing assignments really hard but now I have found my writing style and enjoy writing. I would advise anyone not to be intimidated by the challenge of it, it’s a fantastic opportunity to grow your skillset and your knowledge. I hope that I have made the most of having such high-quality teaching – I’m really going to miss being at Sussex.
The module I studied in my first year with Dr Katherine Kruger on social justice, leadership and organising was a fantastic opportunity to explore both the practical side and the theory of what I was already working on and other social justice movements. They did a really good job of helping us to feel part of the Brighton community, especially when we did a citizens' assembly as a group, and it gave us a real-life understanding of world issues.
Then when I did Will Lock's second year module on social culture, I felt incredibly validated by much of what he was saying: it was what I had been thinking but didn’t have the academic basis at that point to back it up. I'm passionate about expanding the perspectives that feed into the UN, to offer perspectives from civil society that centres those with lived experience. But a lot of the power dynamics I had experienced were reflected in the module that Will was teaching; working with the UN can feel frustrating at times, but we need to continue pushing to make sure that our systems represent the many, not just the few.
The other most valuable skill I have gained is an understanding of the legacy of colonialism. Everyone who works in these spaces should understand the history of colonialism and its ongoing impact; it can be hard to de-centre these perspectives if you don’t understand where they come from.
I’ll soon be taking up a new role as a political strategist for Stop Ecocide International - I wouldn’t have had the insights that I have been able to provide without studying at Sussex and being able to think about things in a different way. I have a better understanding of global power dynamics and historical imbalances of power, and how to consider the perspectives that shape how they operate.
It can be very demoralising to understand the challenges humanity faces, but critical hope comes from understanding these issues and being able to make changes. You start from what it is you want to see in the world and go from there.”