Season 2018 2018

NR

The war in eastern Ukraine between Russian-backed rebels and the Ukrainian army has killed more than 10,000 people over four years, and peace remains a distant prospect. Despite the violence and poverty though, civilians in the war zone try to live as normal a life as possible. In the frontline town of Marinka, a new bakery has opened which brings some comfort and sustenance to war-weary locals. From Marinka, Lucy Ash reports.

Lele Tao is an internet superstar in China's $3 billion dollar 'live streaming' industry. With more than a million fans she can earn thousands of dollars a day singing, dancing, flirting, or often just chatting into her webcam. Fans buy her virtual gifts which she redeems for cash. In return she works hard to keep them entertained, always conscious someone younger and prettier could be waiting to take her place.

Hundreds of industrial towns across Russia face extinction. Once the pride of the Soviet Union, many have now been abandoned and millions have lost jobs and homes after the collapse of their local industry. The government now has a plan to save at least some of Russia's dying towns.

More than 2,000 children were taken to France from the Indian Ocean island of Reunion between the 1960s and early 1980s, as part of a French government plan to repopulate rural areas. Promised a better life and an education, many suffered sexual and physical abuse. Some, now middle-aged, are seeking an apology and compensation from the French state.

For Our World, Katie Razzall travels from France to Reunion with two women searching for the families they lost more than 50 years ago.

For nearly 40 years Afghanistan has been in a constant state of war. How has this affected the mental health of its people? With unprecedented access to Afghanistan's only secure mental health unit, Sahar Zand meets patients, including a former Taliban fighter, struggling to deal with the trauma of war.

Compton in Los Angeles has long been renowned for gang violence. Thirty years ago local rappers NWA released the hugely influential album Straight Outta Compton which described drugs, guns and murder on the streets. Gangs are still a fact of life in Compton but homicide and gun violence have fallen significantly because of fewer turf wars over drugs, better policing and a proactive Mayor. As Katty Kay discovers though, years of extreme gang violence have taken their toll. There are flashing images from the beginning of this film.

Featuring news programmes on current issues around the world. Leading challengers have been harassed out of the March 2018 presidential race in Egypt and Abdel Fattah al-Sisi looks guaranteed to be re-elected. Critics accuse him of an unprecedented assault on human rights. They say mass arrests, torture and 'disappearances' are hallmarks of his regime. With press freedom under attack much of the brutality goes unseen. The BBC's Cairo correspondent Orla Guerin meets victims and their families.

Ksenia Sobchak is young, wealthy and famous. Her father helped bring down the Soviet Union. Now she's challenging ex-KGB officer Vladimir Putin for the Russian presidency. A perfect pedigree Perhaps. But some say she's a fake candidate, running a no-hope race to boost the Kremlin's democratic credentials. Gabriel Gatehouse travels to Russia to unravel a tale of family loyalties, a death in suspicious circumstances, and double dealings in the quest for power.

Collaborating with Israel can mean prison or death in Gaza. So why do people do it? Some Palestinians say they're forced or blackmailed, others believe they're helping to prevent attacks on innocent people. Israel says recruiting Palestinian agents helps protect its citizens. For Our World, BBC Arabic's Murad Batal Shishani travels to Israel and Gaza to unravel a complex web of desperation and exploitation.

Iraq's oil-rich southern province, Basra, is in the grip of a crystal meth epidemic. High levels of unemployment, poverty and despair are fuelling the crisis, along with plentiful, cheap supplies of the highly addictive drug. Yalda Hakim has gained exclusive access to Basra's police SWAT team, and the prison where dealers and addicts are all kept in the same cell. She reports on the authority's tough approach to drug-related crime

A showcase of BBC journalism with programmes that expose and evaluate global topics. Mexico's murder rate reached a record high in 2017, with close to 30,000 dying in drug related violence. The coastal city of Acapulco is particularly dangerous, in the grip of vicious turf wars between gangs over control of the drugs trade. Clive Myrie follows a paramedic and a body collector in Acapulco and meets a senior member of a powerful drug syndicate.

Thousands of women across West Africa have been enslaved by a centuries-old practice called 'Trokosi', whereby girls are forced to live and work with priests in religious shrines to 'pay' for the sins of family members. Brigitte Sossou Perenyi was one of those girls, until she was adopted by an American and moved to the US. Twenty years later, Brigitte goes on a journey to understand what 'Trokosi' really is and why her family gave her away.

Every week hundreds of Syrians, given asylum in Germany, are returning home. They risk arrest as they're smuggled from the EU into Turkey, en route to Syria. For Our World Nawal Al-Maghafi joins them to discover why they're giving up the safety of Europe to return to their war-torn country.

The independence vote in the north-eastern region of Catalonia shook Spain's democracy to the core. The Spanish authorities used force to try and stop it, but more than two million Catalans defied the police to back a new independent republic. Nine months on, Catalonia is still part of Spain, its leaders are in prison or abroad and its people are deeply split on the region's future. BBC correspondent Niall O'Gallagher, who reported on the referendum, has gone back to ask what happens next.

Tens of thousands of children in Pakistan are legally employed as domestic servants. They cook and clean for their employers - and are vulnerable to exploitation and physical abuse.

When a fire at a children's home in Guatemala killed dozens of teenage girls, it exposed a terrifying culture of abuse. For Our World, Linda Pressly investigates how the tragedy, in what was meant to be a place of safety, has revealed a child protection crisis of epic proportions.

It has been a year since Qatar's neighbours cut off diplomatic and economic ties. Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt all accuse Qatar of supporting terrorism. A BBC investigation has uncovered an 'arsenal' of media weapons being used in the war of words in the Gulf, and examines whether people in the region will ever know the truth in an age of fake news and twitterbots.

Why did the Ukrainian security services stage the death of Russian journalist Arkady Babchenko? And in the propaganda war between the truth and fake news, what did it achieve?

In April this year, a highly respected Norwegian child psychiatrist was convicted of downloading thousands of images of child pornography. The psychiatrist had been used as an expert, until his arrest, by Norway's controversial child protection system and was involved in decisions about whether children should be removed from their parents. Campaigners in Norway have long accused the system of removing children from their parents without justification and now, despite the serious nature of this man's offence, the authorities are refusing to review the child protection cases he gave evidence in. For Our World, Tim Whewell has been to Norway to try to discover why child protection in one of the world's wealthiest countries appears to be in crisis. This programme contains adult themes.

For decades Sweden has been held up as a model society: prosperous, egalitarian and well-integrated. But in recent years a counter-narrative has taken hold. According to this story, Sweden is a nation where liberal values, a generous welfare state and an open-door policy towards refugees have led to a crime wave that threatens to spiral out of control. Against this backdrop, Sweden is holding a general election in which an anti-immigrant party, with its roots in the Neo-Nazi movement, is threatening to upset 'politics-as-usual'. So what is going on? Gabriel Gatehouse goes to Sweden to find out.

Two years ago a peace deal saw Colombia's FARC guerrilla group lay down their weapons, ending Latin America's longest running insurgency. The BBC's Frank Gardner has travelled across the country to assess how the peace is holding. He finds some areas have been stabilised, but in others cocaine production has reached unprecedented levels, murder rates have soared, and criminal gangs have filled the vacuum in areas formerly controlled by FARC.

With nearly two million people living in miserable conditions in Gaza, the Israeli blockade has taken its toll on mental health there. Against the backdrop of the border clashes earlier in 2018 this film goes deep inside the minds of the people of Gaza to explore the mental health issues affecting many there.

Featuring news on issues around the world. Outside the Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte is best known for his violent 'war on drugs'. Now, two years after being elected, critics say Duterte is attacking the very institutions designed to keep his power in check. He's locking up those who criticise him, whilst the children of former dictator Ferdinand Marcos are emerging as powerful players. Howard Johnson reports from the capital Manila, where the outlook for democracy looks bleak.

Hundreds of people are killed by the police in the US each year. Much of the media attention has been on the race of victims, but there is another pattern to the deaths. A large number of those killed in interactions with police had a disability and many of the dead had been living with a serious mental illness, learning difficulties or a physical disability. North America Correspondent Aleem Maqbool investigates some of the recent incidents.

Every year, nearly 45,000 people in America kill themselves. That is more than twice the number that die in homicides, and the numbers are increasing. There is one group in particular causing this spike - white, middle aged men. India Rakusen goes to Montana, where suicide rates are double the national average, to find out what drives so many of these men to despair and taking their own lives.

For decades Australians and New Zealanders have had the right to live and work in each other's country - but those rights have now been curtailed by Australia. Thousands of New Zealanders are being deported from Australia, some with criminal convictions, but others on the grounds of 'bad character'. The New Zealand government claims the policy breaches human rights conventions. Once the closest of neighbours, the special bond between Australia and New Zealand appears to be fracturing.

A decade after returning from Iraq, Our World meets a group of former US soldiers still struggling to adjust to life back home. The BBC filmed with them in Baghdad in 2007 at a time of intense violence, and has tracked them down to find out how they have adjusted to civilian life. The programme discovers they have been facing new struggles with PTSD, alcohol, marital breakup and a wider society that does not understand what they went through.

In Ukraine, a new independent Orthodox church is set to reject 350 years of spiritual domination by Russia. Four years into a war against Russian-backed rebels many Ukrainians want to sever ties with their closest neighbour. But will the trauma caused by this religious schism further divide Ukraine?

In the wake the brutal murder of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi, in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, the future of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler, is being questioned. Our World reveals allegations that close associates of the Prince have been involved in torture and murder in the past.

Qandeel Baloch was murdered in her bed, the victim of a so-called honour killing that rocked Pakistan and the world. She was a social media sensation, a young woman from a poor village who became famous for her sexually provocative online appearances. After her murder, a new law against honour crimes was passed. Four members of Qandeel's family, along with a celebrity TV cleric, are on trial but justice for Qandeel appears elusive.

Around 25,000 people from Thailand work on Israel's farms. Filmed over a year, Our World investigates allegations that many are being exploited. The team uncover evidence of squalid living conditions, unpaid wages, and hear widespread claims their health is being put at risk from pesticides. Although under Israeli law they are entitled to decent housing and safe working conditions, one Israeli NGO that supports workers tells the BBC they are being treated as 'tools', rather than 'human beings'.

China is accused of locking up as many as a million Muslims in its western region of Xinjiang. The government denies this, claiming people willingly attend special 'vocational schools' to combat 'terrorism and religious extremism'. But a BBC investigation has found evidence of a vast, and rapidly growing, network of detention centres where people are held against their will and often abused and humiliated.

In 2015 there was widespread unrest in the East African country of Burundi when the country's president ran for a third term. Protestors said he was violating the constitution that limits presidential terms to just two. Since then street protests have ended, but a BBC investigation has now uncovered evidence of government-sponsored torture and killings designed to silence dissent.

As Poland celebrates 100 years of independence, a struggle is underway over the future direction of the country. Will a new self-confident Poland close the door to immigrants and turn its back on the EU? Yalda Hakim meets ordinary Poles, some urging immigrants to assimilate or leave. She also meets far right political leaders who hope to be part of the mainstream and one of Poland's first openly gay politicians, who is confident he can build an inclusive national liberal movement. So where does all this leave Poland's newest arrivals, immigrants and refugees, many of whom experience racism on a daily basis?