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Human security and migration

Panos London has started working on human security and migration projects which will provide communities with greater opportunities to debate constructively and peacefully the issues that lead to polarisation, racism, violence and extremism. The work involves:

  • Ensuring that marginalised groups are included in dialogue
  • Giving the groups skills and opportunities to engage with the media, and to create and use spaces for dialogue and debate
  • Encouraging media coverage that is more accurate and reflects a greater diversity of voices, viewpoints and opinions.

Selected Human security and migration project

Linking southern journalists

The focus of this project is to increase the availability of original, high-quality articles and broadcasts about life in developing countries written by local journalists.

Human security and migration publications

Hungry in the City

Inside a Kampala Slum

Hungry in the City is a collection of stories from people in developing countries around the world who explain how they are surviving in an era of higher food prices, inflation and hunger.

Breaking barriers: Women in a man’s world

Panos London presents six case studies of women who are defying stereotypes to tackle poverty and gender inequality in developing countries.

Forced migration

Overview Key issues Resources Links Sri Lanka | Kawsiha, a displaced 12 year old Tamil whose mother was summarily executed by unknown forces / Robin Hammond – Panos pictures Since the end of the Cold War, forced migration has been a phenomenon largely affecting developing countries. By the end of 2008, the United Nations High…

From soldier to civilian: the challenge of reintegration

Overview Key issues Resources Links Peace can only be arrived at when former fighters are disarmed and successfully reintegrated into their community / Sven Torfinn – Panos Pictures Armed conflict is an all too familiar theme for journalists in many parts of Africa and Asia. But what happens when the fighting stops? Do people just…

Stories to tell, stories to hear

This video explores, and explains, the process of oral testimony, and why it’s an essential aspect of poverty reduction.

Reporting on climate change

Former BBC News Online environment correspondent Alex Kirby shared his insights into reporting on climate change over the past 20 years.

Sexual health services for adolescents

Many young people worldwide face obstacles in accessing sexual and reproductive health information and services. Here a Panos London editor offers an insight into some of the areas to explore around the issue.

Good choice: the right to sexual and reproductive health

Access to sexual and reproductive health services is vital in preventing unnecessary  deaths of men and women. Yet around the world, governments and health organisations do not prioritise spending on these services.

Ensuring a food secure future

Why the media have a crucial role in highlighting food security – and not just in times of crisis.

Voices from the mountain: Nepal

Interviews with Nepalis about poverty, migration, education and employment, water resources and deforestation, gender, and the impact of the Maoist insurgency on ordinary people. 

High stakes

The most effective way to protect mountains for future generations is to invest in the people who live there.

Combat AIDS

A report aimed at policy and decision makers, international, regional and national NGOs working in the areas of HIV/AIDS, the military and/or conflict. 

Arms to fight, arms to protect

Women from around the world speak of the psychological and physical damage of war, and the battle for economic survival.

Human security and migration blog posts & features

Under a Different Sky: a journey from North Korea

Under a Different Sky is a short film that tells the story of Yongmi Park, who escaped from North Korea and now lives in the North of England with her family. Read accounts about the background of the film, including from Yongmi Park herself.

Breaking rocks to pay her school fees

Like many Liberians, Mercy Womeh missed several years of education as a result of the 14-year civil war. She is now 18 and determined to complete her final two years of schooling. To fund her education, she crushes rocks.

Mali: small steps to women’s economic empowerment

Women traditionally cannot own land in Mali, making it hard for rural women to earn money. Kaidia explains how the women’s association in her village helps women earn money and distributes loans.

Gender equality starts at home

What’s the best way to engage young people in social movements and politics? Bhan Sahu explains the small steps helping to create a new generation of leaders who want to change the system from the bottom upwards.

Community gardens boost self-sufficiency in Argentina

A national organic gardening scheme in Argentina has been a huge success, providing fresh fruit and vegetables to 3.3 million people across the country. With food prices rising around the globe, Ana Bell meets local gardeners in Buenos Aires to hear their stories of self-sufficiency.

Mali: rains bring hope to villagers – for now

So far the rains have been good and Kaidia has started planting crops for the next season. But without a bull to help plough her land she has to choose between sowing the seeds late or sowing them without ploughing.

Photo snapshot: sitting volleyball in Burundi

Sport has an important role to play in development and rehabilitation processes. To celebrate the London 2012 Paralympics, we have dug through our archives to find photographs of inspirational sportsmen and women around the world for whom disability is no barrier.

The village women who dare to bring change

Bhan believes you can’t wait for the government to change society – change needs to start with individuals. She tells us about three ordinary women who are challenging traditions in their villages.

Children fall ill as hunger persists

In Kaidia’s latest blog she tells us that children are the worst affected by the hungry season. Malnutrition means they are more susceptible to illnesses, such as relapses of malaria, and are unable to work in the fields to sow the next season’s crops.

Seeking a new state for the powerless

“We have no land, no education and little power to make decisions. So, we don’t have a voice.” In her own words, our blogger Mary Madiga explains why she has joined a movement fighting for a new state: Telangana.

‘To tell you the truth we are starving’

For almost a year we have been following the life of Kaidia Samaké who lives in the village of Gwelekoro in Mali. With a food crisis currently sweeping the Sahel, Kaidia’s blogs trace how the annual ‘hungry season’ intensified, pushing her family and other villagers to the brink of starvation.

Olympic triumph unites communities in troubled Manipur

The London Olympics are over but the athletes’ achievements have the potential to leave a lasting legacy. Mary Kom, a flyweight boxer from Manipur in north-east India, didn’t win gold – yet her performance inspired her state and her country.

Mali villagers too hungry to fast for Ramadan

Women in Gwelekoro village, where Kaidia Samaké lives, pound cereals. This year the harvest was poor due to lack of rain and the amount of food they were able to store has already run out - Andrew Esiebo | Panos London

As the food crisis worsens in Mali, our blogger Kaidia Samaké fears she will not be able to fast for all of Ramadan because she does not have the nutritious food needed to to break her fast when the sun goes down each evening.

‘Land and natural resources must belong to the people’

Villagers take part in a non-violent march to demand their rights to land and resources - Ekta Parishad

In her latest blog Bhan Sahu tells us about a non-violent civil resistance movement, inspired by Gandhi, which aims to bring about social and land reform in India.

Enterprise: the key to survival in Dadaab

Refugees walk along the main street in Hagadera camp in Dadaab - Piers Benatar | Panos Pictures

Dadaab refugee complex in north eastern Kenya is home to nearly half a million people. Unable to leave the camps without travel permits and unable to officially work due to Kenyan employment laws, many residents have turned entrepreneur to survive.

Headteacher faces down the Taliban

'Educate one girl and you educate a household' teacher Gul-e-Khandana saved her school from the Taliban - Muhammed Furqan | Panos London

Gul-e-Khandana, headteacher of a girls’ school in rural Pakistan, challenged the Taliban soldiers who came to destroy her school. Our journalist Rina speaks to her about the importance of educating girls.

Compensation for rape victims, or justice?

Detail from a poster made by WAD (Women Action for Development), the organisation that Ambra works for - Thingnam Anjulika Samom | Panos London

A new government scheme that has been recently rolled out in Manipur offers rape victims a chance to apply for financial compensation. However, Ambra fears that while the scheme will help women financially it won’t help to bring them justice and that rapists will walk free.

Escaping São Paulo’s drug gangs

Marcos at the soccer field of the São Paulo neighborhood - Lilo Clareto | Panos London

Marcos Lopes tells his story of reform, from being the leader of a street gang to leaving that life and reaching out to help others like him.

Kashmir’s children pay the price of conflict

Shabir and his family - Raashid Bhat | Panos London

Unexploded ordnance is a very real problem for people living in rural Kashmir. Shabir lost his brother to a discarded army shell, and has received only a very small amount in compensation for his own injuries including the loss of his leg.

From ridicule to fulfillment; ‘I have made the journey’

Ambra showing her son's high school marks - Thingnam Anjulika Samom | Panos London

Talking of her own ‘journey from victimhood to self-reliance,’ Ambra blogs about how a moment of determination was the turning point for her and her sons.

Mali rebellion stirs fear in rural villages

Armed Tuareg man herding sheep in this remote and insecure area north of Gao - Crispin Hughes | Panos Pictures

As rebel groups in Mali combine to announce an independent Sharia state after the recent Northern coup, Kaidia voices her fears about her future in the south of Mali.

The human cost of displacement

Lipholo Bosielo, one of the narrators in the Molika-liko valley - Kitty Warnock | Panos London

Olivia Bennett talks about her recent pubication, Displaced: The Human Cost of Development and Resettlement, based on learning and oral testimonies from a Panos London project.

Being jailed made me into a leader

A meeting of the Telengana Mahila Mahajena Samakhya (All Dalit Women’s Association of Telengana) - Stella Paul | Panos London

Looking back over how she became the activist she is today, Mary Madiga is proud to be a Dalit – “people who are broken in body, but not in spirit”.

Afghan theatre of war comes to the stage

A woman wearing a white burqa holds a rose to her nose at a street market in Khwaja-Bahauddin - Yannis Kontos | Polaris | Panos Pictures

Emotional trauma is perhaps the single largest unreported fallout of Afghanistan’s brutal wars. This interactive theatre project aims to help the survivors cope with violence, even when facing social restrictions.

Looking back on Chile’s year of protests

João Paulo Charleaux, who was based in Chile, followed the struggle of the Chilean students, covering their demonstrations, arrests, parties and endless rounds of negotiation with the government.