♪ >> hello. welcome to "european journal" from dw-tv in brewsles. this week, is austrie shielding a top from contact sinan child labor in turkey bringing in the world's hazelnut harvest. making hey from the euro crisis. and the french sheep farmers afraid of a big, bad wolf. if your kids eat chocolate

spread made with hazelnuts you've probably never thought where they come from. a third of them come from turkey. from the rahilly region of ordu behind the black seacoast. the nuts are difficult to harvest and for months, kurdish families work for a pittance picking the hazelnuts by hand. >> it's a long way to the hazelnuts here in the highlands by the black sea. the harvest has just begun. nearly 1/3 of the world's hazelnuts come from this region of turkey. the hazelnuts are harvested by hand and it's hard work. 13 -year-old fessie is helping with the harr vest. he was a kurd and comes nearly 800 kilometers away. his parents can't find work at home. for the past few years he's come to ordu with his parents.

>> if i had one wish, it would be to attend university. i don't want to waste my life on the plantations. >> these kurdish migrant workers travel around the country from harvest to harvest eight months out of the year, as a result fessiy misses about half of the school year. >> sometimes i miss important tests but if we didn't all work we would starve and that can't happen. so i have to work during the harvest. >> child labor is officially forbidden on turkish plantations but it's common practice nonetheless. this 12-year-old and her 9-year-old brother aidan also help with the harvest. they have to work long hours along with the adults or they won't get paid. we asked when they start work.

aidan says they start at 6:00 in the morning and work until 5:00. and what does he want to do when he grows up, we ask? he says he wants to be a playoff so he can hunt down bad guys. aidan's father can't find any other work. he says the family needs the money the children earn to survive. >> if i weren't forced to do it, my children wouldn't be working this is hard for the children, i know that but we don't have a choice. >> the kurdish harvesters get 35 turkish leera a day, less than 13 euros for a day's work. the farmers who hire them say they're opposed to child labor but that they depend on cheap labor to keep their farms afloat.

>> we can't manage just by selling hazelnuts. we need the kurdish families to survive. >> this is how the kurdish migrant laborers live, in makeshift camps without electricity or sanitation. the workers have little choice. they return to the black sea every year for the annual harvest. it's highly unlikely these children have ever tasted hazelnut chocolate or chocolate spread. the industrial region nearby is where the wholesalers who buy the nuts are based. the nuts are then sold to european producers who turn them into chocolate and other candies, but the wholesalers don't want to talk about child labor, and they want nothing to do with a german television crew. talking to us could anger the european country is who come

here to ordu to buy cheap hazelnuts. the mayor says he doesn't know the solution to the problem, but he does believe he knows who's to blame. >> until now, european companies haven't assumed any social responsibility. let's be honest, they're exploiting us. they want to buy hazelnuts from us as cheaply as possible. if we don't offer them a good price, they threaten us and say they'll buy them from other countries. >> the next morning, we're supposed to meet fessie and his family again, but when we arrive at the camp, we find that a heavy storm that is -- has caused the river to flood overnight. many of the tents were washed away. by some miracle, no one was killed, but the occurredish families have lost almost everything they loaned -- owned.

everything that belonged to aidan's family was also washed away. >> we're completely helpless. we drove 850 kilometers to get here and only worked one day. we can't turn around now and go home. >> but there's no time to complain. they have to return to the plantation right away. they need every lyra, now more than ever. >> it's amazing the lengths people will go to to get a visa to enter europe. some russians have learned that if they own a property in neighboring estonia, they're more likely to be granted a she thinking vicea. but they don't actually live in

the apartments they buy, which doesn't please theirest tonian neighbors. >> this is the region on estonia's baltic sea coast. most of the young people in the countryside have moved to the cities, but the villages remain attractive for citizens of russia and ukraine -- ukraine, and these are the apartments they have their eyes on. the property manager isn't happy about it. the foreign homeowners don't really want to live here. some of them even leave the apartments unlocked. >> a family from ukraine bought there apartment. now they live in israel. back threaten, the buyer came in a taxi from talin, took a quick look at the apartment and drove

off again immediately. >> an apartment here costs 3,000 to 10,000 euros, but the byars aren't looking for a place to live. they want the resident perm -- permit thats tony grants property owners and that is a european ticket for all the property owners in the area. but it's to the disadvantage -- of the neighborors. the new owners not only vanish immediately, maicon eventually forget to pay the utilities and maintenance costs. >> several apartments in this building, including the one next to mini -- mine are not lived in, so they're cold. we don't have central heating so i have to heat more. my pension is so small that i can hardly pay for fuel. >> this family has responded by installing a wood burning stove for cheaper heat.

many apartments in local villages are still empty. the real estate agents are glad when potential byars show up from russia or ukraine. apartments without separately heating are especially popular because utility costs are lower. >> a real estate agent's aim, of course, is to sell the apartment. i have no way of knowing in advance whether the people really plan to live here or not. >> a flourishing black market has evolved in estonia for european union visas. politicians have illegally provided dozens of russian businessmen with coveted permits for the schengen area. local governments don't know how to deal with the apartment sales problem here either. >> these purchase are not

illegal, but if someone buys an apartment just so he can ending the schengen zone, it's a problem. if people from russia really want to come here to live and do business, they're welcome, but the lawmakers should cloudy skies this loophole. -- should close this loophole. the property manager has found her own solution. instead of warning the owner, she takes drastic action. >> a water pipe burst here. the owner wasn't willing to pay for repairs, so i had the pipe sawed off and plugged. the apartment has no water supply anymore. >> estonia's poor coastal region has more to offer than cheap apartments from individuals from abroad. she hopes her homeland will be attractive for other reasons.

>> there's a mystery in austria as to why a former diplomat from kaz ack san francisco was not extradited -- was not -- kazakhstan was not extradited. even after a court has sentenced him to 40 years in prison the austria authorities refused to send him home. some believe that the reason is that he had been a secret donor to two of austria's biggest political parties. >> she's a widow and mother of three children. she's come from vienna to kazakhstan to see her lawyers. she's been fighting for four years to bring the perpetrators to justice.

her husband, a bank manager, in kazakhstan, disappeared with a colleague in 2007. their bodies were found only last summer. being killed. >> we'd known for a long time that we were in danger. my husband and his colleague had challenged one of the most powerful men in the country. he was their boss at the lang -- bank and they refused to go along with his corrupt business dealings. after he threatened him, my husband stopped our children going to the school or to the shop himself. i thought they just wanted to fire or intimidate him but leave him alive. >> the man held spann is rachat aliyev, seen here in archive footage. he has since been sentenced in absentia back home. he was also the deputy head of

the secret police and deputy foreign minister, positions he used to amass enormous personal wealth. opponents were dealt with swiftly and severely in 2007, shortly after the disappearance of the two bankers, rachat aliyev was repointed kazakhstan ambassador to vienna. the government stripped him of all positions and asked the austrians to exextradite him. he was wanted across europe on suspicion of money laundering but the request for extradition was declined. >> aliyev lived in luxury here in austria and convinced both major camps that it was good to be his friend. everything went smoothly, aliyev understood how to buy up austria. >> there was, farm, the half a

million contract -- farm, the half a million contract for personal image consult tans si or the $500,000 donation to a vienna soccer club. it was an open secret that the recipients were the two biggest political parties. so was the ambassador of -- aware of where his money was going? >> yes, that's also something we're looking into as regards money laundering. >> but didn't that amount to party funding for the people's party and the social democrats? >> yes, unlike in germany, party funding in austria is not, as such, a criminal offense. you have to do something to be guilty of corruption. in austria, you have to bribe an official or persuade them to

commit a violation of office. >> rachat aliyev spent just one day in detention in vienna before being released on bail. after just two days he was granted a residency permit, while the austrian authorities took three years to process the extradition request from kazakhstan, and then the request was refused on the grounds that rachat aliyev could face political persecution back home. aliyev now claims to be part of the optician -- opposition in ca zach san francisco. for the widow of the murderered bank manager it's a preposterous notion. >> rash are rash was always a -- rachat aliyev was also a member of the ruling class. nobody supported him me.

austria is reifersing to extradite him. >> the chairman of the europe parliament's committee of legal affairs is bebuildered. he wants austria to clarify its position. >> i cannot fathom how they can take no action in light of the serious accusations. that doesn't comply with the rule of law. i think some questions need asking. >> the austrian justice mini city now says it's intensifying its investigation. a new public prosecutor has been assigned to the case, to the relief of the lawyers representing the victims, and they have discovered another controversial point in the protocol of a ministerial meeting. it says it would be desirable to see the termination of the trial due to rachat aliyev's absence. rachat aliyev complied and left the country. she still doesn't know if and

when her husband's murderers will ever be punished. rachat aliyev is currently believed to be residing in malta. >> as 2012 gets underway, the future of the euro is on everyone's find -- mind, but for many in the channel island of jersey, it's welcome. despite g-20 leaders declaring war on tax havens two years ago, nothing much seems to have changed in jersey with its huge numbers of international banks and financial insurance institutions. >> for centuries the channel islands were disputed between the english and french. today they're famous for bringing people from across the world together, investors. miguel rodriguez moved here from

-- eight years ago. he's food and beverage at a hotel. only a minority of his guests come here for the island's attractions. >> the tax-free status makes it very popular. there are opportunities here that you don't find else where. it's a bit like switzerland or monocofment there's a mixture of pro-rich and traditional british charm. >> on the island, money talks. banks from across the glope have banks in the capital. banks only pay a rate of 10%. foundations have also been set up to hide assets from the london authorities. over 300 billion euros are believed to be under trust management. critics say a lot of its money belongs elsewhere. >> the elite that run europe are the people whose wealth is in these places.

that's the point. there's a critics. although government still have obligations. if they're going to tax, raise revenue to deal with their financial crisis then they will will have to start taxing the rich. >> nick used to work in a bank. now he's a member of the group that wants to see an end of the island's tax haven status. this party is called time for change. he found in his bid for political office at the elections last ok. his voice is generally an unwelcome one. the businessmen who frequent miguel's bar come specifically because of jersey's tax status. most guests are reluctant to be filmed. some of their transactions are borderline illegal. an investor from england talked to us but wanted to remain anonymous. >> things are different than they are on the mainland. there are not as many rules.

then you're going to pay debt duty. well, you don't pay that in jersey. so if i was to die, my money from from jersey would go to my children without any person in the middle taking his bits. >> most residents want things kept that watch. one in three work in the finance industry. the situation in another of the channel islands is completely different. no sign here of the glamour and grand durep seen next door. there's just the one tarmac road that winds around the island. anibal finding is a teacher at the local school and runs trips for tourists on the side. she needs two jobs to make ends meet, she says. >> it seems hard to believe that these -- the big banking industries, are able to come in

and then not pay any tax back. who's going to be paying for the raids for the airports, for all the things that need looking after? >> an issue that doesn't seem to bother people here. wealth and status are what matters, both on the golf course and in parliament. the parliamentary president is also the highest judge on the island, a tradition that has changed little over the past 800 years. no one here is interested in change, but some think the time has come. >> it's absolutely central and crucial. so crucial that it won't be mentioned because he's so frightened to mention it. but it's what the whole island is about. it's that that they wish to protect. >> and those offshore millionaires are sure to resist calls for change. >> sheep farmers living in the vosges mountains in france have

been living in fear. a wolf has been on the prowl that already killed large numbers of sheep and lambs. the shep herppeds want to be able to shoot the wolf but they're being told it's a protected animal. now, some farmers are using their own means to keep their flocks safe. this man is nervous when he calls his sheep home. are they all still there? he keeps his herd near the vosges mountains of eastern france. since april, the sheep have not been safe. there's at least one wolf powling prowling in the area. >> nephew pleasure in my profession anymore. it's good and well to keep the countryside open, but when you work hard and again and again have the surprise that your sheep are taken by wolves, what kind of life is that? >> the wolf, probably a male

loner, attacks unpredictably. not part of a pack, his behavior is atypical. for example, he kills more than he can eat. he's lost 33 animals. more than 120 sheep have fallen brave throughout the region. the state compensates the owner if they can prove a wolf caused the loss. but now he has more work. he has to keep the lambs in a stall so he spends more on field and he has to doctor injured animals. he sees only one solution. the wolf, here captured on film by an automatic camera, must die. local mayors and politicians agree. they also want the wolf to be shot. after all, it threatens their policies. >> a few years ago our region had no sheep farming. we subsidized it with public

money so that the countryside could be kept open. now the shepherds are on the verge of giving up. the animals graze unsupervised on unfenced meadows. at night, that's a set table for the wolf, an invitation to dinner. >> but wolves are a protected species and the regional government has rejected the calls to have the animal killed. the authorities say that can only be an absolute last resort. >> the wolf itself will decide whether the area is a good habitat. this is a mid-sized mountain landscape, heavily populated, and a desk nation for outings by city dwellers. the wolf may move on if it can't find refuge or enough food. then it may look for a new territory. >> but the owner of these 600 sheep doesn't want to wait and

see. he's trying unconventional deternlts like deodorant spray. it's said to drive off wolves, which shy away from people. >> we are prepared to battle diseases and cold and feeding problems. but as there are still really no effective ways to protect sheep from wolves, things are very difficult. we were faced with a problem that has no solution. >> anti-wolf radio is another deterrent the shepherd has thought of, but if nothingest -- he'll give up -- nothing he's -- helps he'll give up, another victim of the vosges wolf. i hope they're listening to dudeutche welle radio.

i hope you'll join us next time. for now for all the team here in brussle -- brussels, goodbye. captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org--