♪ africa, where people have been facing record levels of drought. it's a real challenge for daily life. in south korea, work is thtop priority for many young people. so how are they supposed to find a partner? and in iraq, people have suffered hugely at the hands of the i.s. terror group. but there's no question of giving up.

three years ago, large areas of iraq were taken over by islamic state extremists, including three cities -- mosul, tikrit and ramadi. after extensive fighting, the iraqi army and coalitionorces managed to drive the islamists out. in december last year, iraq declared the i.s.-occupied parts of the country officially freed. around 70,000 homes were destroyed during the occupation and subsequent fighting. 2.5 million displaced people are still in camps and other temparhousing. at a global donor conference in february, participating states agreed to pledge $30 billion towards rebuilding iraq. but experts rn thas just a third of what's really needed. meanwhile, life is starting to return to the demolished cities. slowly, but surely. reporter: when ali rides his bike through western mosul, it's a trip through a dark and painful past.

the wasteland reminds the 36-year-old of the worst trauma he has ever experienced -- living under i.s. rule. centuries-old buildings, palaces, churches, and the world famous al-nuri mosque, now lie in ruins. with his camera, the university lecturer wants to document the destruction and rebirth of his hometown. ali: at first instance, i couldn't recognize it. this is, by the way, the ancient part of mosul, is the busiest ever. and now, it's a t town. it's a risky place. it's hazardous. and it's empty. the soul of the place is no longer here. reporter: ali is rediscovering his city by bike, following three years of war and terror. every bit of fresh paint he sees gives him hope. and color is indeed coming back

toos. the black flags of i.s., the murderous propaganda on the bridges and walls, are all history. now, street artists are covering it up with declarations of love to their city, in spite of everything that has happened. hassan: i love my city, it has great charisma. we are now giving back to it what it has given to us. we went to school here, to unerty. and now, the city needs us reporter: these types of sitiveessages are what ali wants to send out to the world with his photographs. the era of hate and fear is over, for once and for all. mosul lives again. ali: da'esh murals used to attract young people to join them, attract people to kill, to purge the city of the minorities, to impose their point-of-view, their dark point-of-view.

so, it is very important to paint that dark era with beautiful colors, yeah. reporter: but the wounds of the past are still far from being healed. ali also feels a deep sense of mistrust, wondering who may have sympathized or collaborated with i.s. he makes a statement on social media with his photos and his blog. he bieves at mosul is better than its image. ali: mosul is not isis. mosul has always been living in a co-existential way. i have christianrds, kurdish students. i have yezidi students. and nobody thought to put a finger on a hair of them. what happened was something exceptional, was something brutal. and it was something that happened by the tiniest portion of muslims, of iraqis.

reporter: photos from that dark era. ali took them secretly, and in doing so, he risked his life. the university, abandoned. most departmentserclosed. ali also lost his job as a lecturer. his father, who had always shaved, was forced by i.s. to grow a beard. the book forum cafe. 's a place that breathes freedom. a year ago, the building was still burnt out. now, schoolchildren, students, and artists meeterto do all the things that had been forbidden for years. to read, to play music, to smoke, to have fun. a few of ali's pictures also grace the walls. he's a regular customer, and a friend of the owner. fahed sabah invested all his savings into the cafe. during the i.s. period, he read countless books in secret. since then, he is convinced that

every change begins th literature. fahed: this place will succeed if the young people decided to change our minds, to change our -- to delete all the black panorama from our memories. reporter: there are some indications that they might succeed. music n ce again be heard in the streets of mosul. for three years, hakam and muhammad hid their instruments from i.s. religious police. now, they play music once again, for themselves, and for others. scenes like this give ali hope for a better future for his beloved, long-suffering city. host: when war and terror dominate, human rits abus are rarely far behind, which makes a mockery of the un's charter and declaration of human rights.

this list of rights is long. from freedom from torture, to protection from imprisonment. but it's nowhere near as long as the list of human rights offences in the world. myanmar's army, for example, uses brute force against the nation's rohingya minority. many observers call it genocide. hundreds of thousands of rohingya have fled to neighboring bangladesh. in china, freedom of speech remains little more than a nominal right. anyone daring to criticize government policy faces imprisonment, or worse. when human rights are under threat, those who fight for them are needed more than ever. reporter: september, 2014. it was a night of terror in igla, mexico. armed men attacked several buses, killing six people and abducting 43 students who were on board. the case shocked mexico. and to this day, what happened to the young men remains a mystery. omar garcia was there.

ma ohis friends were injured, killed, or disappeared. omar: i can still remember how scared i was that night, and the terror. and the outrage at not knowing what happened. reporter: the official investigation has been bged down in conflicting theories and misinformation. whether authorities are unwilling or unable to solve the case inoclear. there are plenty of suspects, but no convictions. that's why human rights organizations are scrutinizing the case independently. they've commissioned forensic architecture, a team of scientists, journalists, and artists, to evaluate and visualize public sources. like omar's witness account, for example. the night's events are reconstructed on intacve maps. omar helped in the reconstruction.

irving: where were you when they opened fire? omar: i ran that way. reporter: it's a complex case. the military, policeni, as well as criminal gangs, are all likely involved. irng: threconstruction is meant to allow us to visualize the crime scenes, to understand the extent of the violence and how it was coordinated. it's hard to understand that if you've just got a file with 500 or 600 pages. reporter: the scene of the crime in 3d. the reconstruction aims to show what happed when, sed on geodata, photos, and videos. there is an exhibition, but the information is online as well. nesty ternational is one organization using digital investigations more and more to protect human rights. for the past year, it's been teaching students, like these

here in britain, how to scrutinize pictures and videos from social media. olivia iannelli is one of the first members of the digital verification corps. oliaso it's given back the power to the citizens on the ground and it's kind of now a means of defense. so many people can now turn to their mobile phones, start recording, and gather evidence. reporter: the goal is to verify this evidence, where and when it was recorded. the digital detectives look at all sorts of information, like the weather and position of the sun. these pictures from the internet could verify or debunk a story. olivia: digital images can actually give us evidence to hold steto account, so we can hold these people to account just through a youtube video. reporter: like this video, for example, of an alleged libyan war criminal. it's with the help of such recordings that the

international criminalourt i the hague has issued an arrest waant against the man. the court uses technology to investigate remotely. madeleine: it's a great opportunity for us, because suddenly there's this wealth of information out there. not all of it's going to bereles information that we suddenly can have access to in a pretty efficient manner, possibly from a spot that we can't access. rerter: e international criminal court now even has its own cyber-investigators. they examine data, check for manipulation, or proof of authenticity. but the digital evidence is never the sole source of evidence. deleine: but we're also sort of then going off and looking r other sources to corroborate the information that's contained in a video or a photograph, so at could be witnesses again, it could be documentation, so there's a number of different other sources that we're looking at.

reporter: using technology to document war crimes and human rights violations is particularly useful when public authorities fail. in the case of the mexican students who were kidnapped, one gornmentncy stroye rerdings of cctv camer thforensic architecture team digitally reconstructed the footage to show what was ignored by the official probe. irving: our project cannot answer the main question of where the students are, but it can trigger further inspections. reporter: that's certainly what omar is hoping for. that night in iguala still haunts him. omar: even if we get justice one day, this will continue to shape our lives. this terrible crime scarred us. we are fighting to make sure this never happens again. reporter: forensic architecture is a way tmember, and maybe

to even help find the truth. host: around the world, new technologies have become almost essential in many areas of our lives. even the search for a partner has become a digital affair. in 2015, more than one in four young adults in the u.s. used an online dating platform. and last year in asia, 133 million people used internet dating services. does that mean that the good old-fashioned way of meeti people without the internet is now totally out? not when it comes to south korea. there, blind dates organized by friends are in great demand. th is dang analogue-style. report: yog- iused to being e center oattention. as a model, she regularly jets around the world, earning good money. very good, in fact. her parents are proud of her. except for one thing -- she's

stilsingle. time f a blind de. cheon-ng: so who the date with young-ju: i have no idea who i'. reporter: and here he is. seung-woo. his grario best nd has arrangedhe date. seung-woo is more reserved. he has two jobs, and like many soutkoreans ofis age, eas high salar he barely has time for anything outside work, but he'd still like to in a relationship. blind dates are standard procedure in sthea. friends arnge them f their friends. it's old-fashioned stuff. t online, algorithm decidi likely mahes. just friends of friends of friends. jae-hyg: blind des are nalwa s.

t the more you do them, the more likely that they'll work out. they're just another part of our quick results society. repoer: young- ended her la relatiohip because her boyfriend wanted to marry her. she wasn't ready. settling dow having a mily -- she'sot there yet, d her parents are rried. likeyoung south koreans, young-ju still lives at home. so there's plenty of pressure. young-ju: my parents talk about getting married all the time. "when are you getting married," they ask. i'm 28. two of my friends have just got married. so i'm supposed to. but i don't want to yet. reporter: r hairdresser is single, too, and also lives with his parents. 's 38 and ten goesn blind dates. eon-yong: south kor, ind dates ke connectns. because evyone is ways rking, tre's no me to me anyone. so thegon blind dates to

check out a potential relationship. they hope they'll be able to make a quickecision ansave themlves the pliminaries, lly becae the da comes recoended by friend. report: in sou korea, ople say once you're over 30, you're over the hill. especially women. for men, it's more like 40. but that only applies to love. a mas career h to be in ll swg by 3 otherwise something's amiss. south korea has one of the world's ghest perctage of singleeople and e of the lowest birth rates. but now it's time to take time out for a blind date. in keepingith traditn, e-hyung introduc two. and being the matchmaker, he hands out compliments, saying how betiful she lookd w smt he is. and then he's off, and they're on their own, with only their

nerves to keep them company. young-ju: this is my firstver blind date. i don'know what i'm supposed to do. reporter: through all the giggling and the pregnant pauses, there's definitely a spark, too. they're attracted to each other, both like a sense a humor, and a nice smile. and then they talk about blood groups. like star signs in the west, in south korea, a person's blood group is thought to reveal a lot about their characte yog-ju: whats your blood group? seung-woo: i'm type a. young-ju: really? ung-wodo you belve in blood groups? yog-: sure. seung-woo: so,hat's yo blood oup? yng-ju:'m type b. seung-woo: do you like type a? young-ju: i do like type a guys. seung-woo: really? that's a relief. they say type a's are shy. reporter: it's a promising start. and there'hope thesewo may bene step further towards finding the one, and escaping fromllhe pressure of bei single.

host: and now it's time for global ideas. this week, we head to south africa, a nation that's been suffering one of the worst droughts in its history. 2017 was the driest year on record for the area around cape town. what can people do to cope under such merciless conditions? reporter: this reservoir supplies cape town with most of its water. but after four years of drought, there's very little of it left. the theewaterskloof dam is only 10% full. these trees were once fully bmerged. louise stafford is director of water funds at nature conservancy south africa. as lal, she's acutely aware of the water shortage in the region. louisermally where we stand would be water

and these are desperate times, and it's a result of climate change, population growth, and it's a reality that we will see in africa and in south africa more and more. and the big question is, when you look at th, u think how is this possible, and will it ever rain again, and if it rains, will it ever llp this dam again? reporter: even the water withdrawal points have been left high and dry. they need to be filled with the help of pumps. otherwise, the pipes would reinmpty. cape town is around 100 kilometers south of the reservoir. water scarcity is fa of life for the city's four million residents. restrictions on water consumption have been in place for months. residents are limited to 50 liters of water per person per day. in the inner city, many people get their supply from natural sources of water. but hundreds of thousands of

people also live on the outskirts of the city. gailine johannes isn't well-off, and has alwayseeeconomical about water consumption. there's no swimming pool in the yard and just one tap in the kitchen. her family takes care not to waste a drop of water. gailine: the people here in our house, they are very precisely beusof the water that is being wasted. like children playing with the water, throwing erne wet in the street. and i also learn my child to never waste water because of the water restrictn thats here very highly. reporter: but thanks to the water shortage, gailine has found a job. a water conservation project was recently set up close to her home. she and a few other local n now go to work eve mning.

johneline: it's a good opportunity for us. there is high unemployment in the community and this is an opportunity for us to generate an income for our families. reporter: the women clear shrubs from this huge wasteland. rainwater and treated domestic wastewater seep intohe atlantis aquifer. after filtering through the sand for three years, the groundwater is returned to the city's water supply system. but there's a problem -- non-native plants, like sive australian acacias. louise: if you look at t structure of the plant, it's much bigger than the local feinbos and the root structures, or the root systems are quite big in relation with the plant, so lots of water gets sucked up through the roots and

evaporation takes place through the leaves. and the other way that we're losing water is, when it rains and the plants are this densely packed together, the water doesn't reach the aquifer floor and it doesn't replenish the aquifer. reporter: experts say that in the cape region alone, invasive plants consume around 38 billion liters of water a year, enough to supply cape town for two whole months. gailine: we have to cut a lot. the lowest to the ground. we have to make it a little bit, so that you can see. so that's why we use this poison so that it won't grow again. reporter: weedkiller destroys the invasive pntand stops them from spreading and consuming valuable groundwat. it will take 30 years to kill off the acacias for good. the project is financed by the water fund for cape town. louise stafford hopes it hasn't come too late. and all the hard work is pointless if it doesn't rain. louise: we need to change our

relationship with water. we need to change the way we see these water supply areas and then we need to change the way that we work with nature. and we need to do everything possible to work with nature to make nature reesistant, resistant in these circumstances. otherwise, we're facing a total collapse. host: from south africa to west africa. what do people eat in ivory coast? we take a look. report: abidn is the commercial capital of ivory ast, a citof 4.5 milon ople. on the frie of marco market is the snack stall that paco monatine runs together with her family. someone's alwaysgry, so it's open from 6:00 in the moin till 10:00 in the evening.

the kbine bleu's been in business f 28 yes -- a local legend. paco, who is 22, runs the snack bar together with her mother and her femaleelatives. paco: i like it here a lot. it feeds ouramily, andy mama alsoorks here. i like it a lot. it's hard, but wk is work. and i wouldn't ge it up fo anythingls rerter: the plantains are cut up and then fried in sunflower oil for eighto ten mines, until theye nice andreasy.

they're eaten mostly with meat or fish. almost everyone can afford it here. children love to eat the alocos from the stall without any trming alocos remind everyone here of home cooking. >> whei've got te, i normally iake them melf. i don't come fm arou here, but when i'm in town, me and my daughter come by. >> i love it. it's my favorite meal. it's sweet. i don'leave the slightest bit. reporter: a portion costs the equivalent of 45 eurocents.

see you next time, and till then, take care. ♪ [captioning performed by the national captioning institute,

[captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from pacifica, this is democracy now! we are in a climate of rising xenophobia against immigrants and refugees coming from president trump on downward and it is a real issue and we have to struggle against it. is is not a new moment in american history. american history has mostly