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This year was my fourth full year of freelancing & I'm feeling endlessly grateful to sources, editors, agents, grant-givers, readers, & everyone else who supports journalism. I'm going to post a few stories in this thread, icym them.
Hoping 2021 brings better things for so many.
Hoping 2021 brings better things for so many.
I opened this year on a rescue boat in the Mediterranean, then flying a mission on the Moonbird, an NGO-run search-and-rescue plane. More than 20,950 people have died trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea since 2014. https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/europe/we-are-the-eyes-volunteers-take-to-skies-to-spot-mediterranean-refugees-1.4170766
Deaths continued in Libyan migrant detention centres. https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2020/jan/21/teenage-boy-the-latest-to-die-in-libyan-refugee-detention-centre
& https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/africa/man-24-dies-in-fire-in-migrant-detention-centre-in-libya-1.4190721 & https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/africa/migrant-39-who-failed-to-reach-europe-dies-in-libyan-detention-centre-1.4262356 among others. Let them not be forgotten.
& https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/africa/man-24-dies-in-fire-in-migrant-detention-centre-in-libya-1.4190721 & https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/africa/migrant-39-who-failed-to-reach-europe-dies-in-libyan-detention-centre-1.4262356 among others. Let them not be forgotten.
In Uganda, the coronavirus lockdown led to unnecessary deaths too, as a result of police brutality & a lack of provision for emergency medical care. This is the mother of 12yo Stewart, who died when he couldn't get to hospital.
https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2020/4/21/children-women-casualties-of-ugandas-coronavirus-transport-ban
https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2020/4/21/children-women-casualties-of-ugandas-coronavirus-transport-ban
Here's some background on the smuggling trade in Libya. This is a story to watch, as two of the named smugglers are currently on trial in Ethiopia, & victims are hoping there may finally be some measure of justice. https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/africa/inside-the-smuggler-s-warehouse-africa-s-21st-century-slave-trade-1.4224073
Aid became political in Uganda, when food distributions that didn't go through the gov were banned, with the president saying the person could be charged with attempted murder.
https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/africa/coronavirus-you-can-risk-your-life-as-long-you-are-doing-the-right-thing-1.4245828
More Ug lockdown reporting:
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2020/may/28/i-realised-my-body-was-burning-police-brutality-in-uganda-lockdown
& https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/africa/no-beating-on-patrol-with-the-ugandan-military-enforcing-curfew-1.4227963
https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/africa/coronavirus-you-can-risk-your-life-as-long-you-are-doing-the-right-thing-1.4245828
More Ug lockdown reporting:
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2020/may/28/i-realised-my-body-was-burning-police-brutality-in-uganda-lockdown
& https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/africa/no-beating-on-patrol-with-the-ugandan-military-enforcing-curfew-1.4227963
I also went to Rwanda (my second trip) to meet refugees who had been evacuated from Libya & are hoping for resettlement to Europe. https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/02/20/europes-harsh-border-policies-are-pushing-refugees-all-the-way-to-rwanda/
After being caught in the Mediterranean Sea trying to reach Europe, refugees ended up locked up in the remote Zintan dc for more than two years. Dozens died, partly due to medical neglect. I spoke to some of those still imprisoned: https://atmos.earth/libya-refugee-crisis/
I spent seven months, after the pandemic reached Ug, in Gulu, northern Uganda, where I met former child abductees who rose to become commanders in the Lord's Resistance Army. We spoke about the upcoming International Criminal Court verdict. https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/africa/kony-s-children-the-former-child-soldiers-of-uganda-1.4418963
More about the situation for refugees in Libya, the impact of covid in Uganda, etc, on my (to be renovated) website: https://sallyhayden.net/
Again, I'm grateful for everything & sorry for what I didn't have capacity to do. All I can hope is that reporting helps in a small way.
Again, I'm grateful for everything & sorry for what I didn't have capacity to do. All I can hope is that reporting helps in a small way.
I'll spend the first half of 2020 mostly focused on finishing this book about the impact of EU migration policies in the central Mediterranean & what is happening to refugees forcibly returned to Libya. Do get in touch if you have any relevant info. https://www.thebookseller.com/news/fourth-estate-wins-five-publisher-auction-hayden-refugee-investigation-1214864
