Pulitzer Center's Media

Disappearing in Sri Lanka's East

Pulitzer Center — Wed, 20 May 2009 12:09:52 -0700

Disappearing in Sri Lanka's East: Maura R. O'Connor describes how even in peacetime, the Eastern Province is a place where abductions are an everyday occurrence.

This is part of a larger reporting project, supported by the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.

To learn more about this project, visit: http://www.pulitzercenter.org/showproject.cfm?id=100

The US Detention System in Iraq

Pulitzer Center — Wed, 20 May 2009 12:03:08 -0700

Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have been detained by the US, one and a half million have had an immediate family-member detained, almost every Iraqi knows someone who has been through the US detention system.

Few American institutions affect the lives of ordinary Iraqis more directly and profoundly than the US detention system.

At one point during "the Surge" the US was holding 27,000 Iraqis. Today it holds 17,000.

They have not been charged with crimes, but are being held as "security detainees" - a legal classification that will cease to exist on January 1st, when the US military's UN mandate expires.

But for these 17,000 swept up in the American system, there is no clear way out.

By Richard Rowley, David Enders and Alaa Majeed in association with Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting and Big Noise Films.

Darfur: Broken Promises

Pulitzer Center — Wed, 20 May 2009 11:50:11 -0700

More than a year ago, the United Nations mandated a peacekeeping force for the violence-torn Darfur region of Sudan. Two and a half million internally displaced people, known as IDPs, remain in camps, under threat from government-sponsored forces. Undermanned and under resourced, the peacekeeping force is losing the trust of those it was meant to protect.

Produced, directed and shot by Susan Schulman
Co-produced and edited by Chris Milner
In association with the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting

See related reporting; www.pulitzercenter.org

Rape as a weapon of war in DR Congo

Pulitzer Center — Wed, 20 May 2009 11:44:53 -0700

War has raged through the Democratic Republic of Congo for more than a decade — it has been called the deadliest conflict since World War II.

The United Nations estimates that 200,000 women and girls have been raped in that time, some victims as young as three years old.

Both the Congolese army and rebel groups have used rape as a weapon of war.

Armed groups use rape to tear apart families, spread disease and weaken communities. Women are often victimized doubly — first by their rapists and secondly by spouses or family members who then find it dishonorable or socially unacceptable to associate with them.

Worldfocus special correspondent Michael J. Kavanagh of the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting and video journalist Taylor Krauss recently reported from eastern Congo. Together with Lisa Biagiotti and Bijan Rezvani, they produced this signature story.

For more on this subject, visit:
www.pulitzercenter.org

or Michael Kavanagh's project page at:
http://www.pulitzercenter.org/showproject.cfm?id=58

Olga's girls: Indentured servitude in Nepal

Pulitzer Center — Wed, 20 May 2009 11:40:52 -0700

For over twenty years, Olga Murray of Sausalito, Calif., has dedicated her life to helping the children of Nepal, providing them with educations, meals, and health care they would otherwise never be able to get. She formed her nonprofit, the Nepalese Youth Opportunity Foundation, to do just that with the help of caring donors.

Her love for these children has made this 83-year-old grandmother fight one of the saddest measures of poverty in western Nepal, the selling of young girls to be domestic slaves, or Kamlaris, by parents too poor to feed their children. Some of these girls are as young as 6-years-old, and many are sold year after year until they reach adulthood when they marry and start their own families.

For many of these Kamlaris, the lives they lead in their employers homes are filled with abuse, both physical and mental. Worse, some of the girls are raped by employers who feel emboldened by the girls' inability to communicate with their families because they are so far away.

Murray found that the way to end this Kamlari system was to help the families out financially, treating the cause of the problem directly. Her innovative approach was to provide the family with a piglet or goat, which they could raise and sell or slaughter for food. She also tells the parents that she will provide school for the girls. She pours her efforts into stopping the transactions during the Maghe Sankranti festival when the girls return home and parents make new deals or renew contracts.

Since her projects inception, Murray and her charity have saved over 4000 girls from slavery, many of whom have gone on to receive educations and become successful businesswomen after being trained in vocational programs. Many more have become advocates and volunteers to end the practice that once enslaved them.

Video: Carlos Avila Gonzalez / San Francisco Chronicle

Reporter: Meredith May / San Francisco Chronicle

Produced in association with the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting

For more about this story, visit:
http://www.pulitzercenter.org/showproject.cfm?id=90

In Focus Liberia: Future Guardians of Peace

Pulitzer Center — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 14:34:31 -0800

An estimated 250,000 children are exploited every day as child soldiers around the world. There are more than 30,000 former child soldiers in the West African nation of Liberia alone, many of whom are eager to help rebuild their country. Now a unique photography program is helping some of them see hope and beauty again, and regain the respect of their communities as peacemakers.

( This video was originally uploaded by the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting here)

Ecuador: The New Law of the Jungle

Pulitzer Center — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 12:01:48 -0700

Pulitzer Center's Kelly Hearn is in Ecuador covering what has been dubbed Ecuador's Rainforest Chernobyl and it could turn out to be one of the biggest legal environmental battles ever fought. A powerful movement of indigenous peoples accuses Chevron subsidiary Texaco of dumping billions of gallons of waste into the jungle over a period of twenty years. If Chevron loses, this landmark case could raise the cost of doing business for corporations that extract resources from remote regions.

Producers:
Duncan McLean
Sean Weber-Small
Kelly Hearn

Produced by Lone Outpost, Inc. in association with Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting

Bolivia's Coca Culture

Pulitzer Center — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 11:55:18 -0700

The coca plant, used in indigenous cultural rituals and traditional medicines, is also the main ingredient for cocaine. Bolivia is the third largest producer of coca and cocaine after Peru and Colombia. Despite pressure to cut back on coca farming, many Bolivians see few alternatives.

Featured on Foreign Exchange with Daljit Dhaliwal the week of September 19, 2008.

Credits:

Bolivia's Coca Culture
Directed by Gabrielle Weiss
Produced by Ruxandra Guidi, Bear Guerra and Gabrielle Weiss
In association with the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting

Price of Rice

Pulitzer Center — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 11:50:07 -0700

The price of rice has doubled in the past year in Asia giving rise to what some have coined "the Asian Food Crisis." A grassroots NGO in Vietnam is responding, by propagating sustainable agricultural techniques which build on traditional growing and distribution practices.

Stephanie Guyer-Stevens

No Refuge in Georgia

Pulitzer Center — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 11:32:22 -0700

As the recent war between Russia and Georgia shows, the aftershocks of the collapse of the Soviet Union are still being felt today. 15 years ago, trouble started when two parts of Georgia, itself newly independent, tried to break away. War followed and entire communities were uprooted. Today over 200,000 refugees live in political limbo, unable to forget the place they once called home.

Produced by Kira Kay, Jason Maloney and the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting