Cecilia Ferrara is a journalist based in Rome, former member and founder of the Investigative Reporting Project Italy and contributor of Radio Bullets.

She graduated in European Contemporary History at the University of Florence.

Ferrara started working as a journalist in the communitarian radio station Novaradio, in Florence, in the year 2000. She became an expert of Balkan politics, society and organised crimes, living in Sarajevo and Belgrade from 2007 to 2010.

Ferrara freelances for several Italian and international media such as OCCRP, Médiapart, The Guardian, L'Espresso Online, Limes Online, Il Venerdì (La Repubblica), Osservatorio Balcani and Caucaso, Left, Avvenimenti, Europa. She is co-author of the book 'Narconomics' (2011) on the international traffic of cocaine and heroine. At the moment she works on transnational investigative journalism projects.

She’s member of the international network of journalists Lost in Europe, she works as a video maker for ANSA as a producer for Al Jazeera. She has been conducting undercover investigations for NGOs and she’s been recipient of several Journalismfund.eu grants.

Cecilia Ferrara

Basic information

Name
Cecilia Ferrara
Expertise
Balkans, organized crime
Country
Italy
City
Rome
Twitter
Website

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?