Cecilia Ferrara is an Italian freelance journalist, TV author, and producer. She covers politics, social issues, and news in Rome, working as a producer for Al Jazeera and other foreign TV channels such as France 2, TF1, and PBS.

She has worked as an author for La7 and Sky Arte, contributing to the founding of Irpi (Investigative Reporting Project Italy) and is currently with Ansa.

Since 2018, she has been a part of Lost in Europe, a collective of 28 reporters from 14 European countries, and is also involved with Sveja, the press review of Rome.

Cecilia Ferrara graduated in Contemporary European History from the University of Florence. In 2000, she began her journalism career at the community radio Novaradio, the radio station of the Arci in Florence. She later specialized in the Balkans, covering politics, society, and organized crime. Between 2007 and 2010, she lived in Sarajevo and Belgrade, writing for various Italian and international publications, including Venerdì (La Repubblica), Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso, Left-Avvenimenti, Europa, Avvenire, Transitions Online, Le Jeudì, Narcomafie, Carta, Peacereporter, and Rinascita.

She is the co-author of Narconomics (Lantana, 2011), a book that discusses international trafficking of cocaine and heroin.

Cecilia Ferrara

Basic information

Name
Cecilia Ferrara
Title
Journalist
Expertise
Balkans, organized crime
Country
Italy
City
Rome

Supported projects

Busting Kabootar Baazi in Punjab: A trick or trade for trafficking women from India to Italy

  • Exploitation
  • Human Rights
  • Migration
  • Trafficking

PUNJAB - For years, the focus has been on men from Punjab who get trafficked to Europe, which is also colloquially known as Kabootar Baazi. This investigation by Journalismfund.eu's grantees reveal how Punjabi women are increasingly being trafficked by travel agents from India, but due to the social stigma, the state doesn’t have enough information about this growing menace.

Lost in Europe

  • Migration
  • Trafficking

KOSOVO - In Kosovo a well organized trafficking network has started a big wave of minors who leave for Italy. Thanks to the Zampa law, which was introduced in 2017, they can get licenses to study or to work, if they report themselves at the Italian immigration services. The law was meant to decrease the number of missing unaccompanied migrant children, but it helps human smuggling in hand. "It's a company of 100.000 euros a month, but no one seems to care", says the prosecutor in Triëste.

Eurocrimes - Exploring Criminal Worlds on the Continent

  • Organised crime

The migration of criminality between European countries is a major source of social and political tension on the continent. Though dominant in the news, this phenomenon is barely covered in reports released by national and European institutions, creating an information gap that furthers mistrust and fear between people.

Gaza's Gas: The EU's Burned Millions

  • Economy

The Gaza Strip suffers daily power cuts of eight hours or more; the region's only power plant produces far too little electricity to meet the people's needs. How did things get this far, after massive international aid has been invested in the region that was supposed to help the Gazans?