Supported projects

SERREKUNDA - Irregular migration from West Africa to the Spanish Canary Islands has risen from 2,700 boat refugees in 2019 to over 23,000 in 2020. This has caused a great deal of social and political concern. 

ACCRA, ABUJA - This story puts the spotlight on a clandestine network of gunsmiths and arms traffickers operating in West Africa in contravention of local laws. It shows how these gunsmiths and traffickers exploit the porous borders across the West Africa and Sahel region to traffic illicit small ...

AMSTERDAM - Illegally logged teak from South Sudan goes to India where it is made into furniture before it could end up in stores in Europe. Indian timber traders illegally source the timber from East Africa and export it as an 'Indian' product after processing.

KATHMANDU - 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 ...

ABUJA / BERLIN - In the 1970s, Nigerian students founded a fraternity to combat oppression and racism. Today, however, their name is associated with criminal activities worldwide. What happened?

KOSOVO – A well-organised trafficking network in Kosovo has prompted a large number of minors to leave for Italy. Thanks to the Zampa law, introduced in 2017, they can obtain licences to study or work if they register with the Italian immigration services. The law was intended to reduce the number ...

DAMASCUS - Over thousands of camel shepherds have fled Syria to the European Union, crossing the sea and mountains to seek refuge following the tragic ongoing war, that has changed their lifestyle with loss of camels to illegal trafficking. 

BRUSSELS - The Emergency Trust Fund for Africa (EUTF) is the European Union's largest funding mechanism for development, stability and migration in Africa. Over the past three years it has spent 4,6 billion euro in 26 African countries. This money, however, has not been spent following the proper ...

ABIDJAN - In this story, investigative journalists Daan Bauwens and Nicholas Ibekwe focus on Highway 10, the transatlantic route that for centuries brought millions of captured African slaves to South-America via the tenth parallel.

SEOUL - From 1932 through 1945, the Japanese Imperial Army and Navy exploited a system of forced prostitution in all occupied territories in China, Southeast Asia and the Pacific Ocean, enslaving women and girls of many ethnicities as so-called ‘comfort women'. These war crime victims represent 34 ...

CAPE TOWN - Although cyberspace is not the main platform for the illegal wildlife trade, it provides an anonymous and versatile marketplace in which to buy and sell. It is safe to say that the internet plays a role at some point in an increasing number of wildlife trafficking incidents.

WINDHOEK - The single greatest obstacle that law enforcement officials have in combatting wildlife crime and related smuggling is the lack of a money trail that can be used as evidence in court to secure convictions against the key organisers of such transactions.

MOSUL - After more than two and a half years, the coalition has admitted to killing four members of the Hadid family in Mosul, Iraq in April 2015. Their story is told in Dagbladet Information as well as in a new 45-minute documentary on the Danish channel DR2 as part of the ongoing Journalismfund ...

CAPE TOWN - A number of fishing companies are flouting international law, exploiting workers, and over-fishing, thus stripping vulnerable countries of a vital food source.

VALLETTA - How Russian billionaire and gashion TV investor paid near-zero tax on small loans operations in Europe and the US.

LISBON – Each year, hundreds of African and South American minors come to Europe in search of a better life and professional success in the European football leagues, which they see as the new El Dorado. In doing so, they expose themselves to the cross-national, multimillion-dollar structures of ...

CALABAR - According to a 2013 study conducted by Paris-based charity Foot Solidaire, around 15,000 young boys from West Africa are trafficked to Europe every year by bogus football agents who promise them trials with top football clubs in exchange for large sums money from their families.

STOCKHOLM - They offer us a moment of pampering; a manicure, pedicure or perhaps a well-needed massage. They make sure Friday nights are free from cooking thanks to a myriad of cheap Asian take-aways. They even provide sexual relief for tens of thousands of European husbands – yet we’re constantly ...

PRISTINA - Between 1999 and 2001, Kosovo's Liberation army, the KLA, possibly used Serbian war prisoners' organs to supply illegal organ trafficking on a massive and international scale, under the eyes and maybe even with the collaboration of the international community present in the country.

BUCHAREST - Dodgy dealers in Romanian nationality can conjure up genuine documents for fake applicants, and with it the right to work within the EU.

RIGA - Hundreds of women come to Ireland each year to marry non-Europeans – with the sole aim of securing visas for their new husbands. Most of them are from poor Eastern European states such as Latvia and Lithuania, where the offer of a few thousand euros is enough to lure women into such a “sham ...

BUCHAREST - 'The New Slave Trade in the Heart of Europe': poor people are being lured from Eastern Europe to the Czech Republic for forced labour. Some of the worst gangsters are now on trial but there is no sign of this evil trade coming to an end.

DUBAI – Thanks to its strategic location, booming real estate market and especially high concentration of extremely wealthy individuals, Dubai emerged last year as the most important non-European destination for Belgian business travellers. Journalist Filip Michiels and photographer Isabel Pousset ...

COPENHAGEN - Danish police are investigating the inner workings of the 'Nonstop Bio Cinerotic' porn cinema, which rents out rooms to Nigerian sex slaves in Copenhagen's red light district. Until very recently, one of the directors of the cinema was Guy Paquot, a Belgian knight and top executive of ...