The Debrief

UN peacekeepers are sent to the most war-ravaged countries on Earth, ostensibly to help them transition to peace. But some soldiers stand accused of committing crimes against the very people they are supposed to protect. We take you on a harrowing journey to the Central African Republic, where you’ll learn about the effects rape and exploitation at the hands of UN peacekeepers, and about how victims are often left defenseless. On the show: Al Jazeera journalist Azad Essa, who authored an...

Myanmar's military crackdown on the country's Rohingya has resulted in the killing of more than 400 men, women and children and has driven hundreds of thousands out of the country. More than 500,000 Rohingya refugees are now in Bangladeshi refugee camps. Of them, more than half are in unregistered camps, where food, shelter, drinking water and sanitation are a luxury. Their stories are dark enough to break down even the most seasoned journalists. “No pictures, no videos, no writings can...

Rumours made two tribes go to war in rural Kenya, until they learned the facts. In August of 2012, two major tribes in Kenya’s Tana River District took part in some of the worst ethnic clashes in the country’s history. The Orma, nomadic cattle-herders, and their farming neighbours, the Pokomo, have a history of fighting over water and grazing rights, but this time it was different. Fake news and rumours incited the tribes to attack each other viciously, leaving 118 people dead and 13,500...

An Iraqi ex-intelligence officer turned refugee tries to find his missing son. It's been two years since Jamal's youngest son vanished without a trace. Equipped with the skills he gained from Saddam Hussein's secret service, Jamal is reconstructing his son's last known steps, taken during the height of the refugee crisis, when his boat sank into the Aegean Sea. We join Jamal on his search for Bakeer - the journey takes him from Turkey to Greece, but key information is shrouded in...

Venezuela used to be the richest country in Latin America, sitting on the world’s largest oil reserves. Yet Venezuelans are scrambling for money, food and basic necessities. More than 100 people were killed in protests since April last year. In this episode of The Debrief, we ask: Where did all the money go, and how did Venezuela come to where it is today? Our senior correspondent Lucia Newman has been covering Venezuela for years. She tells us what she’s seeing on the ground and what...

Just last year, 48 journalists were killed on the job, around the world. More than 5 times that number were thrown in prison. What happens to journalists when they’re beaten up, locked up and tortured? What do they do when they get death threats, or worse? Give up or push forward? That’s what we’re asking on The Debrief today. We also talk about Gauri Lankesh, editor of Lankesh Patrike, a weekly magazine in India, who was shot dead in front of her house on September 5th. In the studio: Al...

You wouldn’t expect a 19-year-old to write “we are ready to die” when filling out a form. That’s exactly what happened in August 2017, when Maryam, a young Iranian refugee, put pen to paper on Nauru island, where the Australian government runs an offshore processing camp for asylum seekers. People being held there have long complained of horrendous, prison-like conditions. Journalists are banned from the camp, but we managed to get through to Maryam to find out how someone so young can...

Meet Irmela Mensah-Schramm - 70 years old and part of Germany’s long history of anti-fascism. For more than 30 years, Irmela has defaced some 100,000 public manifestations of far-right sentiments - graffiti, posters and stickers. Her one-person anti-fascist battle has left her with an injury, death threats and a long legal battle. We follow Irmela to an anti-fascist rally in Berlin, and also hear from the far-right activists whom she's fighting. On The Debrief: Al Jazeera's Patrick...

A message from our editor Yasir Khan: Al Jazeera English is launching a new audio podcast. In this introduction to our programme we explain what we do and how we do it. Join us on the ride. And tell us what you think at debrief@aljazeera.net