Supported projects

After the fall of a self-proclaimed caliphate in Syria dozens of thousands of foreign fighters fighting in the ranks of Islamic State or ISIS disappeared. They used smugglers, contacts and networks to leave the country. Many of them were looking for safe havens where they can take a break, wait for new opportunities and orders or come back to normal life. 

The investigation of Annika Joeres and Susanne Götze illuminates a neglected subject of climate policy. They show what a powerful player the Lobby for Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) has become for the European Climate Policy. 

As countries in Eastern Europe increasingly face the problem of lack of workforce, they are turning to a new source of workers – Asian countries, especially Nepal. But often those workers are abused on the way during their journey to Europe and exploited in the destination countries, which don't have a long tradition of hosting migrant workers. 

LITHUANIA-BELARUS - A cross-border investigation by Lithuanian and Belarusian journalists follows the trail of Alexander Zaytsev and Aliaksei Aleksin, two Belarusian businessmen considered to be close to the Alexander Lukashenko regime.

Facebook and Google let advertisers target the audience they want to reach, that much is known. Less known is that both platforms perform another round of targeting, irrespective of the advertiser's wishes. 

French humanitarian NGO SOS Chrétiens d’Orient (SOSCO) claims to support persecuted Christians in Syria and the wider Middle East without interfering in conflicts or local politics. But in reality, the seven-year-old NGO—which was founded by far-right, conservative, Catholic activists— thinly veils its agenda to amplify Syrian president Bashar al-Assad’s propaganda and push for a normalisation of diplomatic relationships between Damascus and EU countries.

Turkish communities living in Europe were affected politically by the 15 July 2016 unsuccessful coup d’état.  At least twenty-three Turkish citizens, political opponents of Erdogan, were abducted by the authorities of Bulgaria, Moldova, Kosovo, Ukraine, and Serbia and sent back to Turkey. The expulsions bypassed the sanctions of national courts. 

PODGORICA - The Malta-based Shift News in collaboration with the largest Montenegrin daily DAN launched an investigation into the Sino-Maltese wind farm project in Montenegro underhandedly backed by Montenegro's ruling clique and Azerbaijani businesses present both in Malta and Montenegro.

BRUSSELS - There is a big illegal market for pesticides and antibiotics and these substances will still be spread, when they get banned. The industry has been able to continue the use of chlorpyrifos and expect the use to grow in the coming years, despite it has a huge and bad impact on animals and humans. 

Vladimir Putin's Russia increasingly poses a security risk to Europe as it has become more and more aggressive in recent years, especially since the annexation of Crimea and occupation of Donbas. Russia has also committed assassinations on European soil, including the attempted assassination of the Skripals and the murder of Zelimkhan Khangoshvili in Berlin. Most recently a Russian diplomat was suspected of bringing ricin to Prague to poison the mayor.