Global Development Institute Blog

Global Development Institute Blog

We’re the Global Development Institute at The University of Manchester: where critical thinking meets social justice.

Photo Competition – The Migrant Body: Embodied Experiences and Bodily Strategies in South-South Migration

Photo Competition – The Migrant Body: Embodied Experiences and Bodily Strategies in South-South Migration

Funded by the University of Manchester Hallsworth Fund and the British Academy Conference Fund

Deadline for Photo Submission: 30th June, 2025

As migrants traverse borders, their bodies become sites of agency, struggle and transformation. Gendered norms surrounding female and male bodies shape the embodied, everyday experiences of migrants at every stage of the migration cycle. Yet much of what we know about migration focuses on the movement of people from the Global South to the Global North, obscuring the experiences of those migrating within the Global South. This call for photographs aims to present new visual materials from countries of origin, transit and destination in the Global South. Photos will shed light on the gendered and racialized bodily strategies of migrants and their families as they encounter, resist and transform embodied manifestations of power and discrimination before, during and after their migration journeys.

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Climate Crimes and Human Rights: What Role for Courts?

Climate Crimes and Human Rights: What Role for Courts?

 by Yusra Suedi (Law) & Clare Cummings (Global Development Institute), Climate & Justice Study Group 

Between small island states formally requesting the International Criminal Court to recognise ecocide as a crime, 2000 Swiss women suing Switzerland for climate harm before the European Court of Human Rights and the United Nations debating the establishment of a special rapporteur on climate justice, it’s been a busy time for climate justice. In fact, practice would suggest that there has never been more momentum for climate justice through human rights and criminal legal systems, domestic and international.

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MSc Management and Implementation of Development Projects (MIDP) Students’ Memorable Day Trip to Buxton

MSc Management and Implementation of Development Projects (MIDP) Students’ Memorable Day Trip to Buxton

By Dr Nafisatu Irene Okhade, MSc MIDP Programme Director

Students from the MSc Management and Implementation of Development Projects (MIDP) programme recently took part in a day trip to Buxton, where they had an opportunity to explore the Poole’s Cavern and Pavilion Gardens. The purpose of the trip was to foster students’ sense of belonging, encourage meaningful interactions and build community, providing a space for informal discussions and exploration outside the traditional classroom setting. The trip was wholly funded by the Student Experience Fund.

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What can be said and when does censorship start? Reflections on the role of art in claiming freedom in Israel and Palestine

What can be said and when does censorship start? Reflections on the role of art in claiming freedom in Israel and Palestine

By Professor Tanja Müller

I want to share a story about the complex reality of Israel-Palestine – a timely occasion given the recent publication of a blog by the GDI Students for Palestine group. Many years ago, I was involved in a research project that engaged with Eritrean asylum seekers in Tel Aviv, and have since maintained multiple connections to academics and civil society networks engaging with topics of migration, refugees and asylum. Some of those associates are about to publish an edited volume called Home in the Making: Arts of Asylum Seekers in Israel. One of the editors had asked me for a foreword, which I wrote, as promised, last December, and was initially thankfully received. So far, so good. However, I was recently told, with some pain by said editor, that the other members of the editorial team did not want my text published, and as this was an inclusive process, it would not appear.

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Reflections on the International Forest Defenders Conference, Guinea-Bissau, 19-22 February 2025

Reflections on the International Forest Defenders Conference, Guinea-Bissau, 19-22 February 2025

by Dr Teklehaymanot Weldemichel

Last week, I had the privilege of attending the 5th International Forest Defenders Conference in Bissau, Guinea-Bissau, where I was invited to speak on the role of colonialism in shaping contemporary land rights in regions of high biodiversity. The conference wasn’t a typical academic conference, bringing together indigenous community representatives, environmental defenders, civil society organizations, and donor agencies from across Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Europe. In fact, I was one of only a handful of academics in attendance.

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