Faced with poverty and lack of opportunities, young Bangladeshis often dream of a better life in Europe that will allow them to provide for their families. Dalaals or ‘travel agents’ encourage and capitalise upon these hopes. Among those that take the risky journey to Italy known as 'the game' are hundreds of unaccompanied minors. The reality that greets them is often one of misery, exploitation, and slavery.

Le Monde and The Investigative Desk delved into the multi-layered world of Big Tobacco’s 21st century astroturfing. They discovered that under the guise of defending individual freedom, fake consumer organisations are promoting e-cigarettes. 

SAMOS-KOS - This cross-border independent investigation focuses on the newly opened “closed controlled access center” on the island of Samos. The first “pilot project of the European Union” that opened on the 18th of September this year and was entirely financed (43 Million Euros) by a fund of the EU-Commission, which vowed to “No Moria Morias”, after Europe's biggest refugee Camp Moria, on the Greek island of Lesvos burned down last year.  

Beekeepers in Europe are struggling. Over the past decades, European policies, and especially the Common Agricultural Programme (CAP), have promoted the industrialisation of agriculture, leaving no space for bees to thrive and exposing them to many harms, such as pesticides. 

GERMANY - xHamster is one of the most visited porn websites in Germany and the world. The xHamster bosses have been in hiding for years. Now research reveals for the first time two leading figures behind Germany's most visited porn site.

CAIRO - After Abdel Fattah al-Sisi was elected President in May 2014, several amendments to the public procurement law were made that allowed the Egyptian military to further strengthen its grip on the economy. The amendments helped companies affiliated with the army reap the lion’s share of major public contracts, including the construction of the new administrative capital in Cairo, real estate projects, highways and infrastructure, that were granted under direct, non-competitive bidding.

LUBLIN, POLAND - The export of waste to Poland is booming. Among these exports, illegal shipments frequently occur. Companies from Germany, the UK, Italy, Austria, the Netherlands and Sweden have illegally exported waste to Poland in recent years.

This transnational three-part investigation looks at agricultural biotechnologies, better known as Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) from the African perspective using Burkina Faso, South Africa and Uganda as case studies.

NAIROBI - MOGADISHU - The smuggling of Khat, locally known as Miraa, is being carried out openly in Kenya’s coastal town of Lamu. The smuggling has been heightened due to the fact that Miraa export to Somalia was banned in 2020 following a diplomatic row between the two states. 

ACCRA, GHANA - This investigation puts the spotlight on the dumping of e-waste, particularly discarded colling appliances by Europe’s e-waste exporters in Africa in contravention of EU’s law and the Basel Convention while port officials in Europe turn a blind eye to the shipment of these discarded appliances.

LUXEMBOURG - Migrants are victims of mistreatment and exploitation by their relatives and friends in the heart of Europe. This story shows how in Luxembourg some of the poorest migrants face injustice which needs to be exposed and addressed.

BRUSSELS - For the first time in history, the world is consuming more bottled water than soft drinks. Although access to safe water is both a fundamental human need and a basic human right recognised by the United Nations, the continuous growth in bottled water consumption is not just a response to basic human need.

CRAIOVA - A team of journalists investigated the connections between an institution for Romanian democracy and a crime group, who sustained together a corruption network violating law and blocking controls to favor their political leaders. 

YAMOUSSOUKRO - The money that European nightlife spends for its favorite drug finances Hezbollah's wars on the side of Iran. An insider from the Lebanese community in Ivory Coast, one of the new cocaine hubs in West Africa, speaks and paints a chilling picture that spans half the globe, from the slums of Abidjan to Beirut, via the ports of Rotterdam and Antwerp.

CALABRIA - This two-part series, based on two years of research by reporters from IrpiMedia and OCCRP, explores how the 'Ndrangheta's network operates.

LUBUMBASHI, KOLWEZI, BERLIN - To make the batteries for electric cars, manufacturers need cobalt. This documentary shows the efforts of the European car industry to ensure proper supply chains, and documents in the cobalt mines in the Congo that this is impossible.

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. 

ANKARA - Turkey has been using its vast presence in Europe and official institutions such as mosques, consulates and institutions in an effort to track its dissidents using covert Turkish intelligence activities.

ROTTERDAM - In the fight against drugs crime in their ports, the mayors of Rotterdam (Aboutaleb) and Antwerp (De Wever), kicked off in 2019 a more intensive collaboration between their ports. The big meeting took place behind closed doors at the Feyenoord Stadium.

THE HAGUE - The Netherlands is an important financial centre behind the international arms trade. Research from The Investigative Desk (the Netherlands) and an Indian news outlet shows how some of the biggest arms companies in the world use the Netherlands as an intermediary to wire profits to tax havens. 

BELGRADE - In this project a cross-border team of journalists sheds a light on how societies in former Yugoslavia deal with the past, by focusing on how war criminals are reintegrated in their home countries: a closer look at the results of international criminal justice.

VOLVIC - An in-depth investigation of the We Report network uncovers the dark side of the bottled water business in Europe, where the market is dominated by multinational companies such as Coca-Cola, Nestlé and Danone.

NAIROBI - This story uncovers a multitude of worrying allegations about the unregulated surrogacy industry in Kenya.

DAMASCUS - The Syrian government has raised billions of Syrian pounds to rebuild war-stricken cities through a "reconstruction tax." But where does the money really go? A joint investigation by OCCRP, SIRAJ, and Finance Uncovered, supported by Journalismfund.eu's Money Trail grant programme.

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 arms and light weapons, which continues to fuel conflicts across the region.

LONDON - The shipping industry is central to the global economy. But among the world's biggest polluters and tax avoiders. Its emissions, from the dirtiest fuel-oil on earth, are larger than those of Germany, and have a serious impact on climate change.

A'DAM - BRUSSELS - More and more people are moving to the city, but what does the future of these growing cities look like? Thanks to Journalismfund.eu’s LOCAL grant programme, two media organisations (BRUZZ from Brussels and AT5 from Amsterdam) have teamed up for the first time to investigate the two cities. In a five-part series of videos and articles, the two city media delved into the crucial challenges for the city of tomorrow: mobility, housing, waste, tourism and language.

ACCRA, ABUJA – This investigation exposes a hidden network of Chinese control and ownership of many industrial fishing vessels operating in Ghanaian and Nigerian waters in contravention of local laws.