NAYPYIDAW - When the Burmese Spring began more than a decade ago, and 50 years of dictatorship seemed to be coming to an end, trees were growing to the sky in Myanmar. Aung San Suu Kyi came to power and the country liberalized. After the Rohingya genocide, however, the honeymoon was over. And the new military coup in February 2021 turned back the clock decisively.

AMSTERDAM - Antibiotic resistance is one of the greatest threats to public health, according to the World Health Organization. Especially the poorer part of the world has a lot to contend with, but rich(er) countries are also struggling with it.

BRUSSELS - In We, Roma there are 99 distinct stories of Roma. The themes are broad, from their own language to their own court, from Iftar to Mary worship, from prejudice to the affirmation of certain stereotypes.

DAMASCUS - Trapped in the dusty cells of northeastern Syria are thousands of foreign IS fighters, all having come with one goal: to establish an Islamic caliphate. They come from 50 countries such as Iraq and Lebanon, as well as France, Britain and Belgium. Five years after the fall of IS, they are prisoners in a legal no-man's land, often without charge or trial, written off by their home countries.

ENONTEKIO - The Arctic region is warming up four times as fast as the global average. This impacts people and animals.

NAIROBI - For decades Kenya has been a purveyor of Olympic medals in distance running, and it will continue to be so at the Paris Games, but for the past decade or so it has also been clear that there is a strong smell of doping attached to the medals. Athletics is one of the most important economic sectors in Kenya and where there is money, there is cheating.

ÚSTI NAD LABEM / LANDAU - The 'lithium fever' has devastated the landscape in Bolivia, Chile and Argentina, among others. Europe is trying to mine its own lithium deposits in an environmentally friendly way: using geothermal energy. Germany is already experimenting with it in the Upper Rhine Valley. 

PUERTO BAQUERIZO MORENO - A visual documentation of the human history of Galápagos and its first inhabitants, who bore witness to the development of the last century.

GOMA - Blue Helmets' retreat from Congo ushers in new chapter. 'Must we die in the graveyard of the international community?'

MINSK/MOSCOW - Four years after the protests, a totalitarian big brother state emerged in Belarus, while Belarusians are building democratic Belarus in Vilnius. Is this a model for democrats in countries where the space for democratic action is non-existent: rebuilding the pillars of democracy in a neighbouring country that provides the space to do so?

BRUSSELS/AMSTERDAM - In June 2020, following protests in the United States, colonial heritage in Belgium became fiercely debated. The main Flemish cities entered into discussions with activists, experts and citizens to decolonize the public space. Four years later, this research examines the promises that were made by policy makers and compares it to the interventions that ultimately took place.