Supported projects

BRUSSELS - How difficult is the balancing act between working on the Flemish labour market and believing in the Islamic god? With that question, Elisabeth Ackaert went to five Muslims living in Belgium.

RABAT - It used to be no more than the curse of acrimonious racists. Today, however, it is an optimistic dream. Increasingly more well-educated Moroccans born in Belgium, children or grandchildren from former migrant workers, decide to build a future in the country that their parents fled from so many years earlier.

STELLENBOSCH - South African winegrowers produce more than seven thousand different wines and are among the wealthy elite in the country. Millions of consumers around the world taste the high quality of South African wine, but the workers who pick and process the grapes barely enjoy the added value produced.

KINSHASA - White Elephant is a documentary about the Central Post-Office and its employees in Kinshasa, DR Congo.

BRASILIA - Several tens of thousands of illegal Brazilians work on Belgian construction sites. They are also known as the 'new Poles'. Journalists Nico Schoofs and Filip Michiels from the magazine Vacature expose the shady business behind the exploitation of these cheap workers.

DUBAI – Thanks to its strategic location, booming real estate market and especially high concentration of extremely wealthy individuals, Dubai emerged last year as the most important non-European destination for Belgian business travellers. Journalist Filip Michiels and photographer Isabel Pousset travelled to the small emirate on behalf of Vacature magazine, discovering that Dubai has a great deal more to offer the weary business traveller in the form of prostitutes.

BEIJING / NEW DELHI - ‘Economic globalisation has made many countries, particularly in Asia, richer. However, income inequality has also increased in most countries. Companies are constantly looking for the cheapest and least protected labour. Moreover, the internet has given them access to a virtual global factory floor. They can now break work down into small tasks and outsource them through their global agency network more easily than ever before. Consequently, the proportion of wages in the economy is falling almost everywhere, putting workers under pressure in all sorts of ways. Can things be improved?

SURAT - Once upon a time, Antwerp was the world's centre for diamond trading and cutting. As of 2005, the trade is still present, but Antwerp's renowned diamond industry is in decline. In an increasingly globalised world, diamond processing here has become too labour-intensive and expensive.

BEIJING - China has been on a spectacular economic rise for several years. It threatens to overtake Europe and the US as a global power. Is it a bubble that is about to burst, or should the West really fear the "yellow peril"? Who are China's modern-day gold-diggers, and are Chinese workers being exploited?

BRUSSELS – An exposé by freelance journalist Marleen Teugels in Knack sheds light on bullying, harassment and sexual misconduct within the Belgian army. Despite the General Staff's attempts to keep the confidential report on the matter under wraps, Teugels managed to obtain it after three months of intensive investigative work.