International report

Since 2015, three million Venezuelans have fled economic and political crisis in their homeland.

That's according to an announcement made in early November by the United Nations.

Over a million Venezuelans have sought refuge in neighbouring Colombia and are trying to peice together their lives.

Correspondent Emily Wright has this report from Bogotà.

Surrogacy is a growing trend amongst a certain section of Kenyan women.

The practice is intended to help infertile couples who are unable to conceive naturally.

According to the Nairobi In Vitro Fertilization Center, which offers the service, 20 couples commissioned other women to carry their pregnancy for them in 2010, the last year for which dependable statistics are available.

Statistics from the clinic show that 30 babies were born to surrogate mothers at about that time; a number that is believed to have risen since.

Some estimates suggest that hundreds of Kenyan women may now be carrying babies for other women.

Joseph Jira has this report.

Tunisia will forever be remembered as the birthplace of the Arab Spring in January 2011 - the revolution that forced long-time dictator Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali to step down.

Despite being the only nation that saw its Arab Spring result in real democracy, Tunisia remains gripped by persistent socio-economic injustice.  

Correspondent Alessandra Bajec reports.

In the fifth and last part of our series on German colonialism, we look at the work of activists and members of the German African community with regard to Germany's past in Africa.

This period of history is well-known on the African side, but a lot of Germans remain oblivious to it.

And as Emmanuelle Chaze reports, things are slowly changing.

In November 2018, French president Emmanuel Macron stirred a debate on African cultural heritage when he announced a five year plan for France to hand over objects acquired during colonial times and currently owned and exposed in France.

He also commissioned two scholars, Senegalese Felwine Sarr and Bénédict Savoy, to assess France’s collections and provide suggestions as to their future.

In doing so, he shook cultural institutions all over Europe, not least Germany, which boasts sumptuous collections, where can one find the Pergamon altar, the Ishtar gate, the Benin bronzes, and Nefertiti’s bust amongst others.

Yet, the origins of those items, found across Africa and elsewhere, are now demanding the return of these objects to their legitimate owners.

This report from Emmanuelle Chaze.

In the third episode of our series on German colonial history, we look at the question of the restitution of looted human remains.

At the beginning of the 20th century, after colonial massacres, German museums, universities and hospitals inherited thousands of skulls and other body parts, brought back from Africa for “research purposes”.

Today, symbolic gestures of restitution show a willingness by the German government to atone for past crimes, yet the restitution of human remains to the affected communities is still diplomatically challenging for Germany, and many are demanding not only restitutions, but also for compensation.

The second episode of our series on Germany’s colonial history takes us to the streets of Berlin.

To date, nationwide, no monument commemorates Germany’s dark past in Africa.

Yet, for anyone who cares to look, colonialism is very much present on the streets of the German capital.

Some signs are well hidden, while others lie in plain sight as Emmanuelle Chaze reports.

The German presence in Africa is often overlooked when one thinks about colonisation.

Today this long-forgotten episode of German and African history is being re-examined as new efforts are driven by scholars, institutions and governments alike.

At a time of growing awareness of global inequalities, colonial history gives key explanations about contemporary international dynamics.

To understand the relationship between Germany and Africa, you have to dive into the past.

In the first of a five-part series, Emmanuelle Chaze looks at Germany's relatively short colonial history.

In November 2018, French president Emmanuel Macron stirred a debate on African cultural heritage when he announced a five year plan for France to hand over objects acquired during colonial times and currently owned and exposed in France.

He also commissioned two scholars, Senegalese Felwine Sarr and Bénédict Savoy, to assess France’s collections and provide suggestions as to their future.

In doing so, he shook cultural institutions all over Europe, not least Germany, which boasts sumptuous collections, where can one find the Pergamon altar, the Ishtar gate, the Benin bronzes, and Nefertiti’s bust amongst others.

Yet, the origins of those items, found across Africa and elsewhere, are now demanding the return of these objects to their legitimate owners.

This report from Emmanuelle Chaze.

German colonialism part 5

In the third episode of our series on German colonial history, we look at the question of the restitution of looted human remains.

At the beginning of the 20th century, after colonial massacres, German museums, universities and hospitals inherited thousands of skulls and other body parts, brought back from Africa for “research purposes”.

Today, symbolic gestures of restitution show a willingness by the German government to atone for past crimes, yet the restitution of human remains to the affected communities is still diplomatically challenging for Germany, and many are demanding not only restitutions, but also for compensation.

German colonialism part 4