The Documentary Podcast Folgen

There is virtually no state provision for victims of domestic abuse in Iraq. As a result, Iraqi women have been left to protect and support each other, organising secret shelters for survivors and trying to assemble health and legal support for victims. From inside one of the secret shelters, 22-year-old ‘Mariam’ tells the BBC’s Rebecca Kesby about the abuse she suffered at the hands of her husband and his relatives. Iraqi feminist Yanar Mohammed, who set up the first known women’s safe house in Baghdad in 2003, tells Rebecca how her work has led to death threats and law suits, forcing her into hiding. A former member of the Iraqi parliament tried in vain to force a change in the law to criminalise domestic violence, and a policewoman struggles on a daily basis to contain the rising violence in the home.

In many parts of the world there is still a fear of witches and witchcraft. Those accused are often vulnerable, yet they are blamed for a variety of afflictions, from disease to infertility and poverty. They often face persecution, abuse and lynching. From his base in Nigeria Dr Leo Igwe, after receiving tip-offs on social media, intervenes and protects those accused of witchcraft across the African continent from being attacked. He also lobbies local authorities to prevent witch-hunting drives from taking place and organises educational campaigns to counter existing occult narratives.

Amid the rubble, in makeshift tents, children in Gaza are singing - and practising the violin, guitar and traditional instruments such as the ‘oud. The sessions are organised by the local branch of the Palestinian national music conservatory, which still operates, outside its damaged premises, despite the destruction of teachers’ and students’ homes. Why - and how - do they go on singing? And what does music mean to them now? Tim Whewell reported from Gaza in 2015 on the rescue of the territory’s only concert grand piano after a previous war. Now, for Assignment, he finds out how musicians he met then are living and working through this war. He learns about a boy who started playing the violin after he lost his hand in an airstrike. And he finds out about the second near-miraculous survival of the grand piano.