The 1951 UN Refugee Convention was forged at a time when the world was recovering from a global war which had displaced vast numbers of people. Sixty-five years on, it is still the benchmark for refugee rights. But as the world grapples with a new refugee crisis, many think it's no longer up to the job. So – our question this week – would a new international convention help refugees? Presenter: James Fletcher (Image: Refugees push each other as they wait for tents, as Syrians flee the northern e...
May 24, 2016•23 min•Transcript available on Metacast The rich world has got used to health and longevity getting better, and death rates falling – for everyone. But over the past few years data has been accumulating which suggests that this trend has stopped for poorly educated, white Americans. And for one group in particular - middle-aged women – death rates are going up. It’s a shocking finding, meaning many will die at a younger age than their mothers. What’s happening? Certainly, life is tough for many low-income American families. “What the ...
May 10, 2016•23 min•Transcript available on Metacast In June, the UK will vote on whether to become the first country ever to leave the European Union. Anti-EU political parties are on the rise across the continent. In April, the Dutch people rejected an EU agreement with Ukraine. Even the president of the European Commission admits that "the European project has lost parts of its attractiveness". But what is that project? And has it lost its shine? The Inquiry goes in search of the vision that inspired the EU’s founders and - with expert witnesse...
May 03, 2016•23 min•Transcript available on Metacast It is a surprisingly simple idea - to end long-term homelessness, give every person living on the streets a home. It can also be surprisingly effective. Medicine Hat, a city in Canada, recently became the first city to end homelessness in this way. The approach is known as Housing First, and – unlike many other homelessness initiatives – it does not require homeless people to make steps towards solving other issues like alcoholism, mental health problems or drug addiction before they get a home....
Apr 26, 2016•23 min•Transcript available on Metacast For decades researchers, academics and psychologists have wanted to know what kind of person becomes a terrorist. If there are pre-existing traits which make someone more likely to kill for their beliefs – well, that would be worth knowing. In this edition of The Inquiry – part of the BBC World Service Identity Season – we tell the story of that search for a ‘terrorist type’. It’s a story which begins decades ago. But, with the threat from killers acting for so-called Islamic State, finding an a...
Apr 21, 2016•23 min•Transcript available on Metacast Gender identity is considered more fluid than ever because of the success of the trans movement. But most trans people, just like everyone else, still identify as either a man or a women. For those who feel they are neither – or both – the male/female distinction does not fit. And for the one in 2000 who are born with indeterminate sex, finding a place in this binary world can be damaging. We hear from Dr Imran Mushtaq, who works with intersex children at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London; ...
Apr 13, 2016•23 min•Transcript available on Metacast A deadly al-Qaeda attack on an Ivory Coast resort town in March reminded the world that the terror network once led by Osama bin Laden has not gone away. But in recent years it has been eclipsed and diminished by the so-called Islamic State group. IS has attracted not just global attention, but fighters and funds too. So how depleted is the group which in 2001 triggered America’s “global war on terror”? In other words: what happened to al-Qaeda? Presenter: Helena Merriman (Photo: A fighter is se...
Apr 05, 2016•23 min•Transcript available on Metacast Most research places Mexico at the top of the chart when it comes to the consumption of sugary drinks – by some estimates, they get through half a litre per person every day. Mexico also has some of the highest rates of obesity and diabetes in the world, exacerbated by their love of sugar sweetened beverages. To understand why, we look at how Coca-Cola became the country’s most popular fizzy drink brand, seen everywhere from sports fields to religious ceremonies. We explore the role the country’...
Mar 29, 2016•23 min•Transcript available on Metacast They are at once the most predictable and unpredictable killers. We know continent-sized slabs of earth are moving beneath our feet. We know they move at a speed that is often harmless - the same rate as our fingernails grow. But sometimes, without warning, they can slip tens of metres in a second - and bring down whole cities. About a million people have died in earthquakes in the last two decades, most in a handful of huge quakes in urban areas. Yet the populations of cities at risk continue t...
Mar 22, 2016•23 min•Transcript available on Metacast Pay packets in developed economies have hardly grown in decades. Economic output and the number of people in jobs have both improved since the global downturn. But with income levels failing to rise, ordinary workers aren't feeling the benefit. And for many, the good times were over long before the 2008 financial crash. In this edition of The Inquiry we hear from experts in the three largest economies to have suffered flat wage growth in recent years: Japan, Germany and the US. What lies behind ...
Mar 08, 2016•23 min•Transcript available on Metacast The clash between Apple and the FBI is the latest battle in a century-long conflict over the power to keep secrets. The FBI wants Apple to build a “backdoor to the iPhone” so that it can read encrypted data on a locked phone used by one of the San Bernadino attackers. Apple says such a backdoor would be the equivalent of “a master key, capable of opening hundreds of millions of locks”. Creating such a key, Apple says, would “undermine decades of security advancements”. Cryptography was once cont...
Mar 01, 2016•23 min•Transcript available on Metacast Bashar al-Assad and his Syrian National Army appear to have the upper hand. The president has the momentum in a civil war that has raged for five years. It is a very different picture from that of 2011, when a wave of popular protests spread through the country and the international community demanded Mr Assad’s resignation as his army brutally crushed demonstrations. At home, he remains in the presidential palace, supported by his inner circle. Russian air strikes and support from Iranian Revol...
Feb 23, 2016•23 min•Transcript available on Metacast Mosquitoes are the most dangerous animals on the planet. They spread diseases - malaria, dengue and zika – that kill huge numbers of people and cause suffering to many more. So why not eradicate them? It wouldn’t be easy. Scientists in Mali have found the mosquito is a surprisingly formidable foe, able to hide for months and evade capture. Other scientists are working on genetically-modifying mosquito populations so that they can’t breed. But could releasing these re-modelled mosquitoes have uni...
Feb 15, 2016•23 min•Transcript available on Metacast At 4pm on 6 October 2008, as the global financial crisis ravaged Iceland’s economy, its prime minister addressed the nation. "There is a danger, fellow citizens," he said, "that Iceland could be sucked into the whirlpool and the result could be national bankruptcy. It was decided this morning to suspend trading with the banks. God Bless Iceland.” The message was clear. Iceland was about to do what no other country had done - let its banking sector fail. And that was only the start. Over the comi...
Feb 09, 2016•23 min•Transcript available on Metacast The World Health Organisation says the number of cancer cases will rise by 70% over the next 20 years. A huge amount of effort and money is spent fighting the disease. But are we getting that fight right? One leading oncologist, Vincent DeVita, tells us the nature of modern medical research and oversight means we are not able to benefit as much as we might from the extraordinary clinical tools we have at our disposal. Another expert witness, professor Heidi Williams from MIT, describes research ...
Feb 02, 2016•23 min•Transcript available on Metacast When President Obama wept at a recent press conference to announce action on gun control, his tears might have been born of frustration as well as sadness. Despite frequent mass-shootings, events which some might think would strengthen the case for tighter gun laws, it is difficult for any politician or party to change the rules on gun ownership in the US. One organisation is often credited with, or blamed for that - the National Rifle Association, or NRA. This programme is not about the argumen...
Jan 26, 2016•23 min•Transcript available on Metacast The air in much of China is so bad the government has repeatedly declared "war" on it. The enemy are tiny particulates which spew forth from countless cars, coal-fired power stations and steel plants to create a dense, putty-coloured smog. Known as PM2.5s, after their length in micrometres, the particulates contain toxic droplets so small they embed deep in the lungs and sometimes even the bloodstream. A former Chinese minister of health has estimated that as many as 500,000 Chinese citizens die...
Jan 19, 2016•23 min•Transcript available on Metacast Gender identity is considered more fluid than ever because of the success of the trans movement. But most trans people, just like everyone else, still identify as either a man or a women. For those who feel they are neither – or both – the male-female distinction does not fit. And, for the one in 2000 who are born with indeterminate sex, finding a place in this binary world can be damaging. So, are there enough genders? We hear from Dr Imran Mushtaq, who works with intersex children at Great Orm...
Jan 12, 2016•23 min•Transcript available on Metacast The richest 10% of Americans earn half of all of income. In Britain, the top 10% hold 40% of all the income. Inequality is not just an issue for rich countries. A billion people have been lifted out of poverty since 1990, and inequality has been rising in many other countries too. So, how much inequality is too much? Many may recoil from such a question - inequality is a dirty word. But this programme isn't about fairness. This programme is about economics – and how far inequality affects growth...
Jan 05, 2016•23 min•Transcript available on Metacast The world has a problem. The climate is changing. At least, most people think so. That’s why global leaders have been meeting in Paris to work out a way to deal with the problem. They blame carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, much of it released by the human need for energy, obtained from fossil fuels like oil and coal. But believe it or not the world also has a solution at hand: sunlight. Harvest it where it shines brightest, in the Sahara Desert for example, and you have the ultimate get-out-of-...
Dec 29, 2015•23 min•Transcript available on Metacast The UN forecasts that the number of people living in Africa will double in the next 35 years. Nigeria, the fastest-growing nation, is expected to become the third-largest country in the world by 2050. By the end of the century, almost 40% of the world’s population will live on this one continent. It raises questions about how countries – some of which are already facing big challenges – will cope with twice the number of inhabitants in just one generation. There are fears about the impact a demo...
Dec 22, 2015•23 min•Transcript available on Metacast Many claim that ‘Islamic State’ is the ideological offspring of Saudi Arabia; that the strict form of Islam originating in the Kingdom - and the Saudi state's aggressive promotion of it around the world – has fostered terrorism. Saudi Arabia is also accused of funding IS, either directly or by failing to prevent private citizens from sending money to the group. But what is the evidence for these claims? Our expert witnesses include: a former recruiter for Al Qaeda who explains what motivates jih...
Dec 15, 2015•23 min•Transcript available on Metacast Imagine waking up one morning to the sound of a helicopter overhead. You look out and see that packages are being dropped in front of the homes of everyone on your street. You race downstairs, and tear open your package. Inside? Exactly $10,000 in new bills. A gift of freshly-printed money from your government – no strings attached. What would you do? Economists hope you would go out and spend – and that your spending would help kick start the post-industrial economies which many fear are grindi...
Dec 08, 2015•23 min•Transcript available on Metacast In November the US Drug Enforcement Administration issued its Drug Threat Assessment. Mexican ‘transnational criminal organisations’, it said, are the primary suppliers of heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine, and marijuana to the United States. Drugs – the DEA says – are killing 46,000 Americans a year. But between Mexico’s criminal enterprises, and their clients, is a vast expanse of difficult geography and an international border. So, how do cartels get drugs into the US? The Inquiry hears from s...
Dec 01, 2015•23 min•Transcript available on Metacast We first asked this question over a year ago. So far, the answer has been no. The attacks in Paris killed 129 people. The day before that 43 people died when suicide bombers hit Beirut. Nearly two weeks before that a Russian passenger jet exploded over Egypt, killing all 224 people on board. The group calling itself Islamic State has claimed responsibility for all these attacks. If true, in two weeks, they have killed almost 400 civilians, in places way beyond the areas they control in Syria and...
Nov 21, 2015•23 min•Transcript available on Metacast New research suggests plants might be capable of more than many of us might expect. Some – controversially – even describe plants as “intelligent”, or even “sentient”. So, this week, we’re asking: have we underestimated plants? Our expert witnesses include an academic studying how networks of trees communicate through what she describes as a “wood wide web”, and the pioneer who is using plants to develop robotics. (Photo: US-Fall-Shenandoah, Credit: Getty Images)
Nov 17, 2015•23 min•Transcript available on Metacast Syria’s cultural heritage is being attacked from all sides - the Assad regime, opportunistic looters, opposition forces, Islamic State fighters and even Russian air strikes. Ancient sites like Palmyra have been destroyed, and it is feared that hundreds of precious valuables have been smuggled out of the country to be sold on the international art market. Is it too late to save Syria’s antiquities? We speak to experts including the specialist trying to recover stolen items being sold on the globa...
Nov 10, 2015•23 min•Transcript available on Metacast Mohammed Akhlaq’s murder shocked India. A mob broke into his house last month and beat him to death. They believed a rumour that Mr Akhlaq, a Muslim, had broken a Hindu taboo by slaughtering a cow. We find out how the cow became such a political animal and look at whether Hindu nationalists are feeling bolder in today’s India. (Photo: An Indian woman sprinkles yoghurt paste onto a cow's forehead. Credit:Getty Images)
Nov 03, 2015•23 min•Transcript available on Metacast Rhinos are in trouble. The ancient Sumatran rhino has just been declared extinct in Malaysia, following the fate of black rhinos in West Africa in 2011. Central Africa's northern white rhino has been reduced to four - yes, four - animals, and conservationists say the more plentiful southern white rhinos are under unprecedented attack from poachers eager to sell the horns to Asian and Arab buyers. This week The Inquiry hears four very different answers to the question: How do you save the rhino? ...
Oct 27, 2015•23 min•Transcript available on Metacast Oil accounts for around 75% of Nigeria’s economy, but no-one knows how much the country produces or refines. It means corruption is rife. Hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil are stolen every day, at each level of the supply chain. It is a problem that has cost the Nigerian economy billions of dollars, and weakened its public services and infrastructure. Schools and hospitals are paid for, but never built; citizens are forced to pay bribes for basic services. Many believe Nigeria’s new presid...
Oct 20, 2015•23 min•Transcript available on Metacast 
