The Documentary

Twenty years ago the FBI ended their longest-running domestic terrorism investigation with the arrest of the Unabomber, a notorious serial killer obsessed with technology. Between 1978 - 1995, Theodore Kaczynski lived in a remote cabin in rural Montana, from where he planned the downfall of industrial society. A brilliant academic, Kaczynski was motivated by a desire to punish anyone connected with technology.

South Africa’s President Zuma is in deep trouble. Accusations of corruption and unexplained ministerial appointments have fuelled widespread suspicions that the South African state has been “captured”. At the heart of this accusation are the Gupta brothers - a secretive family of Indian-born entrepreneurs. From modest beginnings in the 1990s, the Guptas’ South African business empire grew dramatically. Boosted, it is said, by their alleged influence over state contracts, political appointments and President Zuma himself. In this edition of Assignment, Michael Robinson tells the story of “Guptagate” - how one of the fiercest political storms since the ending of apartheid has swept South Africa and its increasingly embattled President.

Like day labourers, working construction, the mariachis of Boyle Heights, East LA, hang around on Mariachi Plaza to pick up work. You’ll see them most days in their dark suits, embroidered jackets, silver buttons running up the sides of their pants. Writer, Evangeline Ordaz a night out in the Latino suburbs with the mariachis of Boyle Heights, East LA.

Journalist and BBC presenter Akwasi Sarpong heads to Ghana to hear the stories of rural women at the bottom of the pyramid of a multi-million dollar confectionery, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics industry relying on shea butter from Africa.

Twenty-five years ago, thousands of Iraqi Kurds lost their lives as they fled the forces of Saddam Hussein into the Zagros and Taurus mountains of northern Iraq, towards Iran and Turkey. Massively outgunned, many were killed by the helicopter gunship fire and tanks at the command of Saddam’s well trained and brutal troops. BBC Middle East correspondent Jim Muir revisits the exodus.

Illegal miners have invaded three Ghanaian gold mines in recent months. We visit the largest where some locals are claiming that the land is rightfully theirs. The multinational owners disagree, and are demanding the military force them off their concession. For its part, the government has remained largely silent, until now. Ed Butler visits the mine and speaks to all sides in a dispute that could have big implications for Ghana's economy and security.

The dancer, Dane Hurst, has bought a former Rambert Company dance floor (deep, protective, roll out vinyl) to take back to his home in South Africa, for under-privileged kids to dance on. Modern Dance is like a magic carpet. It transported young Dane out of the volatility, violence and poverty of his childhood in segregated Port Elizabeth, to life as a Rambert student and dancer in London. He believes it can transport other young people.

On the last days of the civil war in Sri Lanka, in 2009, surviving in a bunker with what was left of his family, the only thing Santhan wanted to do was to sing. He lost his son and daughter in a shell attack. The other son was arrested. All was lost including his music. Priyath Liyanage tells Santhan's story on one man determined to keep singing despite the tragic consequences of war.

As the political atmosphere grows more hostile to the refugees who Angela Merkel famously welcomed in autumn 2015, five families continue with their attempts to settle in Berlin. Presenter Amy Zayed, follows their struggles with German bureaucracy.

Dave Edmonds travels to the mid-western city of St Louis (location for the musical 'Meet Me In St Louis', starring Judy Garland) for the US chess championships. The city has become a world centre for the game of chess. Its status has partly been achieved by funding from a controversial multi-millionaire, whose childhood included time in an orphanage. Rex Sinquefield is well known for his fascination with the game and his enthusiasm is shared by many others. There is a thriving chess centre, elite tournaments which attract some of the top players, a Chess Hall of Fame and chess lessons in local schools.St Louis is one of America's most violent cities and has most recently been in the news for race riots which erupted when an unarmed black man was shot by police. Can the game of chess serve to lessen racial tension and unite its citizens across the board?Producer: Mark Savage

The Eurovision Song Contest is the most watched entertainment show on the planet with 200 million people tuning in to see singers compete under their national flags. But backstage, it is as much about politics as pop. Ahead of this year’s competition in Stockholm, the Swedish Ambassador to London, Nicola Clase, explains why diplomats take it seriously.

For some Rudolf Kastner is a hero, for others a traitor. Mark Lawson explores the cultural retellings of a story that began in Nazi occupied Hungary in 1944. At the time Kastner, a lawyer and a journalist, was deputy chairman of the Relief and Rescue Committee. He negotiated with Adolf Eichmann to save Jewish lives but did he pay for them with other Jewish lives? In this programme, Mark Lawson talks to those within Israel - including the playwright Motti Lerner, the Chief Historian of Yad Vashem Professor Dina Porat, and the literary critic Professor Dan Laor - who have all wrestled with Kastner's story and the issues it raises. Image: A Hungarian woman looks for her relatives names on the Hungarian Jewish holocaust victims memorial wall in Budapest, Credit AFP/Getty Images

Human rights may aspire to be universal - they should belong to everyone, everywhere - but there has been resistance to them on philosophical or theological grounds by powerful states and world religions. Lawyer Helena Kennedy looks at these issues and the rise of the human rights movement since 1948.

Now that China has ended its One Child policy, one group of state employees may soon be out of a job – the country’s hated population police. Hundreds of thousands of officers used to hunt down families suspected of violating the country’s draconian rules on child bearing, handing out crippling fines, confiscating property and sometimes forcing women to have abortions. But with an eye on improving child welfare in the countryside, there is a plan to redeploy many of these officers as child development specialists. Lucy Ash visits a pilot project in Shaanxi Province training former enforcers to offer advice and support to rural grandparents who are left rearing children while the parents migrate to jobs in the big cities. If successful, the scheme could be rolled out nationwide to redeploy an army of family planning workers and transform the life prospects of millions of rural children.

For some Rudolf Kastner is a hero, for others a traitor. The story began in Nazi occupied Hungary in 1944. At the time Kastner, a lawyer and a journalist, was deputy chairman of the Relief and Rescue Committee. He negotiated with Adolf Eichmann to save Jewish lives but did he pay for them with other Jewish lives?

Helena Kennedy looks at the philosophical foundations of the Universal Declaration, the founding document of all human rights discourse.

In 1994 apartheid ended in South Africa and Nelson Mandela was elected president. He promised in his inauguration speech to “build a society in which all South Africans will be able to walk tall, without any fear in their hearts ... a rainbow nation at peace with itself and the world.” These promises were enshrined in South Africa’s post-apartheid constitution, the first in the world to outlaw all forms of discrimination. In 1994 Motshidisi Pascalina Melamu was born, making her one of the first of the so-called ‘born free generation’. Pasca, as she was known, dreamed of becoming a politician, and studied hard at school. She loved singing, dancing and football. And girls - Pasca was a lesbian.In December last year, Pasca’s body was found in a field. She had been beaten and mutilated. She was one of three LGBTI (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or intersex) people murdered in a six-week period last year. Hate crimes against the LGBTI community have long been a problem in South Africa, and the government has

BBC presenter Nkem Ifejika cannot speak Igbo the language of his forefathers. He wants to know why he was never taught Igbo as a child and travels to the Igbo heartland in the south-east of Nigeria to explore the demise of a once proud language. He discovers that recent history has had profound effects on Igbo culture and identity. He discovers too that some Igbos are seeking to reassert their language and culture.

In communities around the globe, non-binary people are rejecting the categories of ‘male’ and ‘female’, and attempting to redefine gender identity. Linda Pressly hears stories from activists who are part of this contemporary movement, and from those trying to live free from the constraints of the expectations of gender.

Farhana Haider enters Dhaka, in Bangladesh to meet a group of teenage girls who were married and then abandoned by their husbands before they even reached the age of 16.