Perspective

Some 25 million unsafe abortions take place around the world every year, according to the World Health Organization. It notes that while many places have improved access to safe care, 40 percent of women of childbearing age live in a country with highly restrictive abortion laws or where abortion is illegal. Dr. Rebecca Gomperts founded Women on Waves in a bid to empower women and provide safe access to abortions. She has sailed around the world providing information, medication and operations. She joined us for Perspective on International Women's Day.

Back in 2003, there were around 1.4 million Christians living in Iraq. Now, almost two decades on, following the US-led invasion and the Islamic State group's targeted persecution of the country's Christian minority, only around 250,000 remain. As Pope Francis begins a historic three-day trip to the country, we discuss Iraqi Christians’ uncertain future with Emanuel Youkhana, an Iraqi priest of the Assyrian Church of the East.

For 20 months now, Ramy Shaath, a well-known Palestinian-Egyptian activist, has been detained in a Cairo prison. Authorities accuse him of various terrorism-related offences. But Amnesty International and the United Nations say he's a prisoner of conscience, yet another victim of the Egyptian government's ongoing crackdown on dissent. His wife Céline Lebrun Shaath was able to visit him in jail for the first time a few weeks ago. She spoke to FRANCE 24 about how her husband is doing and her ongoing battle to see him freed.

Hypnotic, shocking and unputdownable: that's how the late John le Carré described the book "The Ratline". It tells the story of a senior Nazi, Otto Wächter, and his time on the run: first in the Austrian Alps, then in Rome where he came under the protection of a Vatican bishop. Wächter died in 1949 in strange circumstances while preparing to travel to Argentina on the "ratline", a shadowy pathway out of Rome for Nazis. The book follows author Philippe Sands' quest to find the truth, including meeting Wächter's son, who believes his father is innocent. Sands joined us for Perspective.

Our guest is Paulin Basinga, Director of Health, Africa for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. He says the "resilience" of people and health programmes in place across Africa mean both Ebola and the coronavirus can and will be tackled. Basinga spoke to us as Guinea is dealing with a new outbreak of Ebola which has caused at least six deaths and as many other African countries are still dealing with Covid-19. He says the experience of tackling a variety of health issues means the continent has an advantage in knowing how to treat and contain such problems.

What is love? It is perhaps the oldest and most fundamental question ever asked. Finding the answer became a real quest for Andela and Davor Rostuhar. After they got engaged, they set out to try to answer it by touring the world and meeting with couples from so many different communities, with so many different ideas about what the answer might be. In the end it was difficult to come up with a simple explanation, although they told us respect comes high on the list. Their work has been turned into a book and documentary entitled "Love around the World".

Plastic pollution in the world's oceans is getting progressively worse, with some predicting there will be more plastic than fish in our seas by 2050. One woman determined to raise the alarm is "trashion" artist Marina DeBris, an oceans activist who transforms everyday rubbish items into high-fashion looks and abstract sculptures. And as you might have guessed from her name, humour is an integral part of her work. She joined us for Perspective.

Muhammed Muheisen is a Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer who says he's determined to be more than just a messenger. Over the past two decades he's taken photographs of refugees and internally displaced people across the world, documenting their despair, their struggles and their hope. He's also the founder and chairman of the Everyday Refugees Foundation, an organisation that works to empower refugees and educate the wider world about their plight. He joined us for Perspective to tell us more.

France is coming to terms with the fact that sexual assault and rape cases are often known about but ignored. The situation at the prestigious Sciences Po university has been under the spotlight after one of its top professors was accused of abusing his stepson. The school's director then resigned after admitting that he knew about the case and did not act. Meanwhile, dozens of alleged victims of sexual assault on Sciences Po's regional French campuses have been speaking out under the hashtag #SciencesPorcs or "science pigs". It was launched by Anna Toumazoff, who joined us for Perspective.

From the woman who was sent to track down Panama dictator Manuel Noriega, to the lady who joined the KGB for love, to the wife in France who juggled her baby and family life with cataloguing the movements of Soviet diplomats, six female former spies who worked for intelligence agencies around the world spoke to journalist Chloé Aeberhardt. She shares her perspective on the lives of female spies across the globe and whether the Hollywood image of the Bond girl is in any way close to reality.