Unreported World - Season 26 / Year 2025

The civil war in Sudan has forced more people from their homes than anywhere else on earth. Krishnan Guru-Murthy gains rare access to one Sudanese region, to find over a million people on the brink of starvation. Since the start of the war between the Sudanese government and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), 11.3 million people have fled their homes. Over half of the population, around 30 million people, need humanitarian assistance. Famine has been declared in parts of the country, including areas of the Nuba Mountains in South Kordofan. This semi-autonomous area has become a refuge to over a million people fleeing bombings, executions and rape. Krishnan travels deep inside the territory and meets one nurse caring for around 5000 people. Her work bears witness to the scale of the current crisis, as hungry children line up to be seen, and old men die alone in tents. To survive, people scavenge - eating leaves, insects and even rats. In a nearby hospital, one of just three doctors in the region explains that international assistance is nowhere to be seen, as other conflicts like Ukraine and Gaza steal the headlines. Survivors report of horrendous ethnic violence, adding to the catalogue of war crimes being alleged, including sexual violence. 

Unreported World investigates a so-called 'discipline camp' in South Africa. The camps promise to reform children who can't be controlled by their parents. But reporter Sahar Zand discovers an abusive side to its methods. South Africa's youth are in crisis. Drug use is surging, as is violence in the classroom. Parents are struggling to control their children and a thriving 'troubled teen' industry has emerged. At the forefront of this movement is 25-year-old Prince Motlou, who says his Rising Stars Generation discipline camp offers military-style training that will send hundreds of children back to their parents with newfound respect. But it becomes clear that this is no ordinary boot camp; that it's something far more sinister, with children marching for hours in the heat and without water. Children are searched for contraband, and physical violence is used despite corporal punishment being illegal in South Africa. Some children come forward with shocking allegations of sexual abuse. One of Prince Motlou's previous camps is under police investigation after two boys drowned. Motlou, who likes to be known as Emperor General, denies any wrongdoing. 

Unreported World reports from France on the feminists taking the far-right to within touching distance of power. Darshna Soni talks to the growing movement of students, journalists and activists who believe migrants are a problem. Last year, for the first time, the far-right National Rally came close to securing power with 33% of the vote in the first round of parliamentary elections. Although it was defeated in subsequent rounds, the far-right party gained 38 seats in parliament. National Rally has a growing support from women, a new breed of so-called Femo-nationalists waging a fight for the soul of French feminism. Soni meets 20-year-old Kaïna Méné, who's tearing down left-wing posters protesting against the war in Gaza, in favour of her student group, who believe that immigration is a threat to women's safety. Soni tracks down a controversial and social-media-savvy group called the Nemesis Collective, who routinely protest against migration and are linked to groups in the UK associated with far-right extremist Tommy Robinson. When Soni attempts to question Alice Cordier, the group's founder, she's met with a hostile reception. 

Unreported World reports from Brazil, where Elon Musk's Starlink is transforming isolated tribes living in the Amazon. Reporter Guillermo Galdos travels deep inside the rainforest to find out if the internet revolution is for better or worse. The Amazon is the internet's final frontier, and the Javari Valley reserve is home to the largest concentration of uncontacted tribes in the world. Starlink antennas have divided Marubo leaders, who disagree on whether its immediate benefits outweigh the possible long-term loss of their culture and way of life. In the village of São Sebastião, which lies 500 miles by river from the nearest city, Galdos meets Cloves and his 13-year-old son Wany. Cloves introduced Starlink to the village, believing the internet would help with healthcare and education. But the impact of screens showing the outside world was immediate, and in just 18 months most of the village's teenagers have left. On a boat patrol in an area renowned for the illegal smuggling of gold, timber and drugs, Indigenous communities are using Starlink to protect the Amazon's precious resources. But criminals also use the technology to help their operations, and government agencies responsible for the Javari Valley are taking a keen interest in those bringing Starlink to the Amazon.

In Gaza, young couples are getting married amid the destruction. Gaza is under siege, but some are determined to tie the knot anyway. Filmed from December 2024, Unreported World follows two couples trying to live and make plans in al-Mawasi in southern Gaza, which Israel says is a safe zone for the 1.9m displaced residents. There is also the work of wedding photographer Najah reflecting on how the splendour of Gaza's famously elaborate weddings has changed since Hamas attacked Israel in October 2023, prompting an Israeli bombardment and blockade that's left between 48,000 to 61,000 Palestinians dead. On the outskirts of one of southern Gaza's many camps for displaced people, Hamza plans to marry his fiancée Nada. Forced to evacuate northern Gaza, Hamza buys and builds a marital home - in his case a tent - with the help of his family. Mohammad and Shaimaa are determined to marry but struggle with price increases and the idea of starting a new life in a displacement camp. As a fragile ceasefire takes hold early in 2025, the two couples go back to their homes in northern Gaza, where they confront the challenges of having to rebuild again.