Trial for Yahidne’s Human Shields Draws to an End
Defence claims that the convicted soldiers were not proven guilty in the nearly one year-long trial prove unsuccessful.
Tuesday, 18 June ‘24
This week’s overview of key events and links to essential reading.
Returning Ukraine’s Children
Legal experts consider Russia’s wide-scale illegal displacement and deportation of minors to be a war crime.
Venezuela: Even the Priests Say Amen
Investigation reveals extent of the physical, social and psychological sway Columbian guerillas hold in border communities.
Migrating and Vanishing: But Who Can Hear You in the Desert?
In one Arizona morgue alone in the U.S. there are more than 300 unidentified remains of migrants.
Migrating and Vanishing: Interrupted Mourning
There is no unified mechanism for cross-referencing the DNA of searching families with the remains awaiting identification in U.S. morgues.
Migrating and Vanishing: Twice Disappeared
Overcrowded morgues and underreporting in Mexico's national database of missing persons.
Migrating and Vanishing: Searching for Answers
Lack of data and discrimination: Mexican authorities fail in the search for missing migrants.
Short Sleeves in Iraq
Defying social pressure to cope with the hardships of the summer heat.
LEADx Leadership Accelerator
Five-day event brings over 200 multi-industry executives together to discuss digital diplomacy, disinformation and entrepreneurship.
The Impact of Conflict on Armenia’s Media
Panel explores how security concerns have profoundly impacted country’s freedom of speech and fueled misinformation.
Latin America: Security Support Provides Media “Lifeline”
Physical, psycho-emotional and digital safety consultations allow vulnerable media workers to gain key skills.
The Cashier of Dubai: Investigative Journalism with Impact
Moldova story leads to international legal cooperation in anti-corruption case.
Covering War Crimes in Ukraine
IWPR reporting project provides unique insight and access to historic opportunity to see justice done for wartime atrocities.
Ukraine: The Reckoning Project Reaches Millions
Testimonies form basis of articles and multimedia packages in world-renowned publications as well as a future resource of potential war crimes evidence.
Countering New Security Challenges in Moldova
Enhancing resilience requires the combined efforts of authorities, civil society and media.
Supporting Investigative Skills, Debunking Disinformation
IWPR projects build advanced fact-checking and analysis abilities among journalists in Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine.
Decolonising Central Asia
Russian influence remains strong across fields including culture, economy and media consumption.
IWPR Women’s Prize for Journalism
IWPR’s inaugural award for outstanding journalism recognises the work of our network of women reporters worldwide. Working in often challenging environments, these journalists face additional threats such as harassment, gender-based violence and systemic misogyny.
"What was significant for all three of us [judges] was how the stories stayed with us - not just for the amazing yet harrowing insights into these women’s lives but the courage it took for them to keep going, to experience the harshness in which they lived and to tell the world about it through their stories."
World Press Freedom Day 2024
On World Press Freedom Day we focus on local journalists facing myriad challenges in the tireless pursuit of truth and their enduring efforts to bring meaningful change.
Highlights from IWPR’s Consortium to Support Independent Journalism in Latin America (CAPIR).
An investigation by ContraCorriente, one of the investigative units IWPR supports in Honduras, revealed abuses including robbery, torture and kidnappings allegedly inflicted on citizens by police officers. The investigation also addressed how the state of emergency, in place since 2022, has allowed these abuses to occur with impunity. The authorities deny responsibility, claiming that organised criminal groups are using replica uniforms to pose as police officers.
A transnational publication by the investigative units of Plaza Pública and Criterio media revealed the huge extent of Asian cigarette smuggling in northern Central America. In addition to the health problems and millions of dollars lost to tax evasion, this also finances organised crime trafficking of drugs, weapons and humans. The investigation highlighted the failure of institutional efforts to stop this problem, aggravated by the complicity of officials who help falsify documents.
A story by the IWPR beneficiaries Guardiana and La Nube media outlets revealed the unauthorised sale of "medical preparations" to treat mental illnesses such as depression in a market in Cochabamba, one of Bolivia's largest cities. The story showed how products were marketed without information about their ingredients, including unlicensed natural remedies from Peru and Brazil. In response, the Cochabamba department of health announced it would increase the number of police operatives in the market where these products are sold.
Highlights from IWPR’s Central Asia network of analysis and investigations.
The construction of the Qosh Tepa canal in Afghanistan is causing water shortages in southern Uzbekistan, while in Kyrgyzstan the government is considering the construction of a nuclear power plant. In Kazakstan, conservation activists are working to save the Central Asian tortoise from extinction.
Elsewhere, CABAR delves into the efforts by Central Asian authorities to detect, reduce and prevent statelessness across the region.
Ukraine Justice Report
Countering Disinformation in Moldova
Ukraine War Diary by Anthony Borden
Democratic accountability comes from journalists investigating their own societies – IWPR provides a much needed platform and support for those reporting from some of the most dangerous and difficult places in the world.
Disinformation is a major global threat , especially in conflict and post-conflict areas. IWPR performs a vital mission, building up local voices as a bulwark against this challenge.
IWPR fills a critical gap by helping local journalists to focus on human rights and justice issues. In the process, it contributes to democratic transitions, and demonstrates that the best war reporting is not about military conflict, but human consequences.