All language subtitles for Global.Eye.S2026E19.1080p.WEBDL.H264-7VFr33104D_track3_[eng]

Welcome to Global Eye
from the BBC World Service.

Every week, we bring you the best
in the World Service's

investigative journalism,
as well as unmissable reporting

from BBC teams around the globe.

I'm Aleem Maqbool,
and this week we're in Ghana.

The wounds of slavery
are still raw here

and Ghana's led calls

for financial reparations
for the slave trade.

But will it require more than just
money to heal generational trauma?

Also on the programme,

BBC Eye gets exclusive access
to Interpol officers

as they help a father
in Sierra Leone search

for his children and hunt down
the traffickers who took them.

And we'll find out why the price of
gold reached record highs this year,

and why that might be bad news
for the state of the world.

In recent months in particular,
Ghana has been at the forefront of

a landmark global campaign
on the issue of reparations,

calling for institutions
and nation states around

the world that benefited from
the transatlantic slave trade

to acknowledge their complicity,

to apologise for it and
to start to make financial amends.

It is a campaign that
is gaining considerable traction.

But why is Ghana
leading this charge?

What, in practical terms,
is it asking for?

And will anything
really be achieved,

given the vehement opposition
from some people to it?

Well, we've come a few hours' drive

from Accra to Cape Coast Castle,
and this is,

without exaggeration,
one of the most haunting,

most moving places
I've ever been to.

It was run from the 17th century
by the British,

and this is where huge numbers
of enslaved people

were forced from
all over West Africa.

Why were they brought here?

Well, this is a spot that juts out
into the Atlantic Ocean.

Before they were put on ships,

this dank dungeon is where
the female slaves were held,

and it is difficult to describe
the emotion you feel

knowing the suffering
and fear there was here.

Now, there has been a big push
for Britain to truly acknowledge

what happened here
and to many, many other slaves.

But there's also been a push

for British institutions to do
the same thing.

It's why
the Archbishop of Canterbury,

Dame Sarah Mullally, leader of
the Church of England, visited here.

When they stepped out,
they were chained

and waited in line till they got
a sizeable group,

and then they were marched
through that door.

So that door became known
as the Door of No Return.

The church's missionary wing
ran slave plantations,

individual clergy owned slaves,

the church accepted money
from slave traders

and invested directly in the trade.

Well, this is that door
of no return through which slaves

were marched, often dragged.

And when Dame Sarah Mullally
came here, she was full of emotion.

She felt moved to pray at this door
as well.

And she said all of this
made her reflect

on the responsibility of
the institution she now leads

in all of this suffering.

We have to recognise that,
as a church, we played that part.

We have to apologise for that.

Part of the Christian belief

in repentance is, when you repent,
you turn round.

There's something about action.

That action comes
in the way of a £100 million fund

the church has committed
to help make amends,

but there's a push for nations
to commit to reparations.

Well, earlier this year,
at the United Nations,

Ghana tabled a resolution
to recognise

the transatlantic slave trade as
the greatest crime against humanity.

That resolution was passed,

but that's in spite of the fact
that all European nations

abstained from the vote.

Nevertheless, why is it that Ghana
is leading this charge?

Ghana was the crime scene
where these atrocities took place.

More than 12.5 million Africans
forcibly removed,

torn from their families,
from homes, from villages.

Ghana cannot afford

to be silent on this
consequential matter,

which has to do
with historical justice.

Well, you had those oppressors,
those who profited,

who were from some tribes here
in Ghana themselves.

Look, the entire transatlantic
enslavement and chattel enslavement

of Africans was designed,
choreographed,

curated by the West.

So we don't buy that argument.
There's just a few, you know,

elements who were coerced
by those who designed the system,

but it doesn't make
Africans culpable.

Well, some tribal leaders here
have apologised

for the complicity of
their ancestors in the slave trade,

like King Tackie Teiko Tsuru II,
of the Ga people

who spoke to us in
a rare interview.

I still stand on the same
point of apologising...

...on behalf of all
traditional authority...

...my ancestors and forebears
for the part they also played...

...in the slavery
of our brothers and sisters.

Does that mean
that some tribes here

need to think about what they can do
in terms of reparations?

Yes, I believe that we...

must go beyond the aspect
of an apology.

So that is the way
you yourself are thinking... Yes.

...about what you can contribute.

That we can contribute.

Well, another dimension
to Ghana's campaign

is to try to attract people
from the diaspora to return,

as they call it, to West Africa.

And so that has been going on
for the last few years,

particularly attracting a lot
of African Americans,

a lot of them you see

and hear around this arts market
in Accra.

This is really...
You're talking about catering

for an American... Exactly.

...African American market.
Yeah, yeah. Wow.

And it is an art market
that's changed.

We're here to meet Yaw Asare,
an academic researcher,

but one who used to work
at Ghana's diaspora office.

He's loved the gathering

of black people from
all over the world here,

but says reparations
and this project to bring back

the diaspora should be about repair,
not bringing in cash.

We are dealing with humans.
We are dealing with people,

you know,
who as a result of, you know...

So we cannot reduce them to,

oh, come see this site,
pay this much, and then...

So I would say the excessive focus
on tourism.

And I thought that maybe
that would have been a good time

for us to also deal with some
things that morally are not right.

Like, for example,
why should a diasporic African pay

as much as a white person
in the slave dungeons?

Well, it is Yaw's view and the view
of many other sociologists here

that such is the generational fear
in West Africa

that, in spite of the vast lands
that, for example,

Ghana has, people here
build their homes

very closely together
because they're worried

that if they live away from
the community, they could get taken.

Now, reparations in the form

of money might help
in some capacity,

but it's clearly going
to take much more than just cash

to repair trauma as deep as that.

Now, human trafficking scams
promising jobs abroad

in exchange for money
are increasingly being

detected across West Africa,

including here in Ghana
and also in Sierra Leone.

The victims often spend
thousands of dollars

on jobs that never materialise,

and are also then held captive

and coerced into recruiting friends
and family.

BBC Eye has been given
exclusive access

to Interpol
and the Sierra Leone police

as they target the trafficking
networks and also try

to help one father find
his missing children.

Saidu Bah reports from Makeni
in Sierra Leone's northern province.

Young people across West Africa

are becoming victims of
a trafficking scam.

The scam works like this -
young people

are lured in by offers of work
in America, Canada, Dubai or Europe,

but first they have to pay
large sums of money to join.

Once they've paid,
they are trafficked to

a neighbouring country
in West Africa.

They are told that,
before they can travel,

they must recruit others,

pretending to them
that they've already

travelled abroad
and they are living the dream.

Traffickers are pretending
to be associated with

a legitimate global brand
called Qnet,

which they are using as a front
for their illegal activities.

Qnet is a wellness and lifestyle
company founded in Hong Kong.

But its name has been a byword
for this type of trafficking.

We don't have official
statistics on victims,

but there seems to be
hundreds in Makeni,

a city in northern Sierra Leone.

Some have come from Guinea,
Ivory Coast and Mali.

Two young Guineans have been missing
for more than a year.

They are believed to be victims
of trafficking scam.

Mahmoud Conteh
from Sierra Leone's police

has been asked by Interpol Guinea
to rescue them.

Their family has paid
over 25,000 USD to the traffickers.

A source tells him the young
people may be in Makeni.

Why do you think Makeni is becoming
a hub for human trafficking?

It's like Makeni is in the centre,

almost in the centre
of Sierra Leone,

and it's very easy for traffickers

to manoeuvre
across each of our borders,

at these illegal crossing points.

The children's father has travelled
across the border

from Guinea to Makeni.

His 18-year-old daughter and
22-year-old son were recruited

from their remote village.

His son has been sending the family
messages begging for help.

For weeks, the police source
has been monitoring

several locations where young people
are known to be held captive.

HE GIVES COMMAND

Foday is joining the police
on the raid.

He is hoping to see his children
for the first time in a year.

OK.

Hey, gentlemen. Stay inside. Stay.

Inside, there is a large group
of people, some as young as 14.

They are mainly
from neighbouring countries.

It seems about ten to 15 people

are sleeping on
the floor in each room.

There is no sign of the traffickers.

Foday Musa asks around to see
if anyone knows his children.

But it becomes clear
they are not here.

One young man claims
to have seen them.

This is the first potential sighting
we've had of them.

The young people who have been found
will be transferred

to the police station for screening

before being taken back
to their home countries.

While in Makeni, a survivor
of a labour trafficking scam

tells me she paid traffickers
1,000 USD

hoping to travel to America.

She wants to be anonymous
for her safety.

It has been three days
of searching and raids,

but Foday's children
have not been found.

The trafficking bosses then get
in touch with the police.

They want to secure the release
of a gang member

arrested in an earlier raid.

The police use this opportunity

to ask the release
for these children.

LINE RINGS

Hello?

Mm-hm.

Yeah.

The police say they will not accept
money from the traffickers,

and that it is just a tactic.

But it is still shocking to me
to see how easy

it is for them to pick up the phone
and negotiate in this way.

If the police know
who the bosses are,

and have an open line
of communication,

it begs the question -
why are they not arresting them?

They plan to meet face-to-face
with the traffickers

never materialises,

and Foday returns to Guinea
without his children.

After five days,
time and money have run out

and Mahmoud and his team
must return to Freetown.

Shortly after their last raid,
the police received news

that the traffickers
have released Foday's children.

HORN TOOTS

A few weeks later,
Foday's daughter confirms

she is back in Guinea, but she
has not returned to her village.

He still doesn't know
where his son is.

Sierra Leone police says

it has conducted over 20 raids
in the last year...

...rescuing hundreds of victims
of human trafficking.

While we don't know
the exact reasons

why Foday's children
haven't gone home,

we do know that many young people
who have been trafficked

are often scared to return

due to the shame
and stigma of being scammed.

You can watch the full-length
documentary,

Hunting The Traffickers,
on BBC iPlayer

and on the BBC World Service
YouTube channel.

Here's some more
World Service content

that made an impact this week.

In the wake of the powerful
earthquake that struck Colombia,

BBC Mundo provided comprehensive
coverage of the aftermath.

Alongside in-depth analysis of
the science behind the tragedy,

Mundo gathered dramatic testimony
from survivors,

and was at the front line
of Colombia's rescue effort.

You can find BBC Mundo stories,

videos and live streams
on its official website

and on the BBC Mundo
YouTube channel.

For centuries,
gold has been mined in Ghana.

It remains one of
Africa's biggest gold producers.

But now, in an increasingly
uncertain world,

the strategic global importance
of gold is rising once again.

In an age of electronic payments
and digital currencies,

there is a modern gold rush
under way.

In 2025 and in early 2026,

the price of gold reached
unprecedented levels.

So what's behind this scramble,
and what can gold tell us about

the changing geopolitics
of the 21st century?

The World Service's
global journalism team has more.

Before money was paper or plastic,
a lot of it was actually gold.

These coins are thought to be among
the first-ever minted,

in the sixth century BC.

They were used by the ancient
Lydian society in what's now Turkey.

Gold was easier to carry and trade
with than, say, cattle or timber.

And exchanging coins for goods
helped expand global trade routes.

Fast forward to the late 1800s,

when gold started to be
swapped for cash.

This was known as the gold standard,

when a fixed amount
of local currency

was equivalent to an ounce of gold.

One of the quirks of the gold
standard is that in many countries,

it was illegal to own gold.

So in 1933,

President Roosevelt called in
all the gold

that was owned by private citizens
in the United States.

The United States must take firmly
in its own hands

the control of the gold value
of our dollar.

Then, in 1944,
the global benchmark shifted.

World leaders met
and decided their currencies

would be pegged to the dollar,

and it would be backed
by gold at $35 an ounce.

The US dollar struggled to sustain
that fixed price,

especially because of the economic
turmoil of the Vietnam War.

In 1971, President Richard Nixon
made this announcement.

I have directed Secretary Connally
to suspend temporarily

the convertibility of
the dollar into gold.

But the move was permanent
and ended the gold standard.

It was only in 1974 that US citizens
were able to buy gold again.

Other countries were able to own it,

but it certainly was nowhere near
as accessible

as it has become over
the last couple of decades.

Finally available to buy on
the market, prices started to rise.

And something interesting happened.

You'll notice a number of spikes -

this one after
the Iranian revolution,

then this steep curve following
the 2008 financial crash,

peaking after the Eurozone crisis
in 2010.

This blip in 2020,
that's the Covid pandemic.

Each spike can be traced back to
a particular economic

or political shock.

And the biggest peak of all - 2026.

More on that later.

People buy gold in times of crisis

because it's what's known
as a safe haven asset.

There are a few reasons for this.

People think of gold as a safe haven
because it's not connected

to one particular government

or one particular economy
or one particular market.

And, as we mentioned earlier,

there's a more or less
fixed amount of gold.

Unlike paper money,
you can't just print more.

It can't be created and fabricated
out of thin air, through alchemy.

And so this sort of controls
the supply

and sustains an underlying value
behind the demand for gold.

And the biggest buyers
are countries.

This is how much is held
by the top ten central banks.

The United States has
the most gold -

nearly as much as Germany,
Italy and France combined.

But many countries
are increasing their stockpiles.

Poland and China
added around 300 tonnes,

while India and Turkey
also purchased significant amounts.

If there's an economic shock,

it's a central bank's job
to soften the blow.

And gold can be
an extremely useful tool.

Gold's not just a pile
of shiny bricks

that looks good in your bank vault.

It's a genuine financial asset
that you can use in times of crisis.

And that's exactly what's happening
at the moment.

Again, this is a pattern we see
in the data -

a big rise followed by a steep fall

as investors sell gold quickly
to get cash.

In 2022, another shock after Russia
invaded Ukraine.

That year, central banks
doubled their gold purchases.

But it wasn't just about
having gold for a rainy day.

When Russian assets were frozen,

it was a reminder that assets
held abroad

could be at risk during a period
of heightened geopolitical tensions.

Some central banks have
been moving their gold

from hubs in London and New York.

They're bringing it closer to home
to make it easier to access.

That central bank buying started
to push the gold price up.

In 2024, it went up by 26%.

In 2025, 65%,

when the normal average
is about 10% a year.

As well as an increase in demand,
politics also came into play.

We saw a new administration
in the United States

making lots of pronouncements
and executive orders,

which really shocked and surprised
participants in global markets.

When the global economy
is facing difficult times,

or whether it's unprecedented
political pressures,

then gold can perform a lot better.

The more the price went up,

the more it became
attractive to buy,

with many wanting to get into gold
before it hit a new high point.

In January, a new record -

over $5,500 an ounce.

But what goes up must come down.

And that's been true
for gold prices, too.

There are a few reasons for this.

Investors have been ditching gold
as the price drops.

Central banks
are selling some gold stocks

to shore up their finances,

especially because of
the US-Israeli war with Iran.

The war put pressure
on the global economy,

and central banks may need to step
in and increase interest rates.

And if the interest rate goes up,

investors tend
to buy more dollars,

because, unlike gold,
you can make interest on dollars.

While the dollar might have become

a little bit more favourable
in the near term,

it doesn't mean
that gold has become unfavourable.

It just means that the focus
in the short term has shifted.

And if history tells us anything,

it's that when things get bumpy,
again and again, we go back to gold.

Well, thanks for joining me
in Ghana.

We'll be back next week. Goodbye.