♪ days. in the republic of moldova, we meetet a family eager for a nw start. coming home -- how people are returning to somaliland and fulfilling their dreams there. danger to democracy? in the philippines, politica frdoms are f fast disappeariri. participation, and casting a

vote. these are essential features of a modern democracy. there's majority or consensus rule with respect for minorities. there's a political opposition, freedom of speech, freedom of the press. all citizens are subject to a constitution, which protects such basic rights. and a democracy protects itself through separation of powers. and all people are equal before the law. in many places in the world, democracy is under threat. last year, citizens of as many as 71 countries saw their political rights and freedoms massively compromised. take the philippines. here, the political opposition is being systematically repressed. rereporter: it's the dawn n of w da but it remains a dark y fofor decracy in the philippinines. a prison in the south ofof mani. senator leila de lima is being taken here. she dared to criticize president rodrigo duterte, and says this is the payback. >> senator, german tv. is all this just retaliation

against you? setor lima: fifinitely it's persecution, pure and simple. >> is mr. . duterte on a a perl vendetetta against y you senator lima: definitely reporter: de lima was arrested in february of 2017 after being accused of takining bribes frm imprprisoned drug g trafficke. many belieieve the chargrges e trumd upup, beuse dede la has repeatly calald for an end to e bloody killingf f suspted drug dealelers. pressure has been applied by the man at the top, who frfrom the start didn't hesitatate to empy disinformation, discreditation, and character assassination against opponents. president t duterte: you all kn, you're all h here, you've all heard the investigation. you heard e witnesseses. you saw the videos. is she a credible woman?

can n she be a mororal person? reporter: de lima is a respected politician. but she got on duterte's wrong side as head of a senate committee charged with investigating the death squads sent to kill people suspected of drug trafficking, including those overseen by duterte while he was mayor in the city of davao. the attorney and activist has been a bititter opponentnt ofs anti-drurug policies, , which e led to the extra-judicial kikillingsf ththousas of p peop. the e scandal with de limamaas t on public display. the message? don't try to chahallenge the mm at thehe head of the count. de lima says the preresint may be agast h her, t thatat t worlrld is on her r side. senator de lima: i i innocen the rld knknows that i'm'm innocent.. fililibon: presidedent dutertes

saideveral tes that ores theormer diator marcos a he wantto do th me, so mbe we argoing to at direcon. porter: terte enys singi r a crow but mansay y hi policies sound aeath kne to the inititutio thahat e supposedo o contl hihim the judiary,y, pliamenen and free prs. camama crews w wait f senator antonio trillanes to be arrested outside his office. he's a prominent critic of the president, a and duterte wants m back in jail. the former military officer spspent seven n years behind s for a mutiny in 2003, but was released due to prococedural errors. steeeel plates now cov t the ndows in tllananes' office. he says duterte's tolerance for violence has made random shootings all too common.

senator trillanes: if the judidiciary falls, then that's . there are no more check and balances. there is no more rule of law. we are just a step away from a full dictatorship. and mr. duterte since day one has been pushing the limits of his powers. he has been killing our countrymen and getting away with it. president dutertrte: they sayy 10,000 h have been killed. whwhat the hell, make it 50,00. reporter: judges who stand in his way arare brushed asaside. the country's chief justice has been forced out of her post by her own colleagues, under governnt pressur justice e sereno: it does not le criticism.

it shows viciousneness against grououps of peoplele that it ds are its critics.s. d d i think thatats preciseley the e impression thahat this administraration wanted,d, thau cacannot cross h him. and if you c cross him, yoyoue going to pay a high icice for it. reporter: citizen journalists and multimedia platforms like rappler are making things uncomfortable with their coverage of officials or questionable procedures. many have been threatened with shshutdown orders. pia ranada is a well-known reporter in the country. she and others like her have been frequently insulted or threreatened by duduterte trollr their work.. pia: if you watch the president, his moves are undoubtedly from a dictator's playbook. he's doing all the steps, he's silencing critics, there is martial law in manila now, so we are very weary of any attempts to extend it again. reporter: the fear -- durtrte is justaitingng for the rigight

opopportunity toto extend marl law the e ente countrtr that's's how dutertete's idol, former p president fererdinand marcos, cemented powern n the 1970. his rurule marked 13 y years of corruptition and illegegal exececutions. duterte is n now looking t o 2016, and has bebeen challengig ththe result evever since. with dutererte's help. he sayays if marcos s were toe granted ththe position, , he wd stepack. asasked if he wowould rule liks fafather, marcosos junior playas cardrds close to his chest. ferdinand: every time, every period i in our history calls r a different sort of leadership, and that leaeadership isis only dened byby t circucumsnces that prevavailed at the e time. so until we get there,e, it' impossssible to say. reporter: duterte e knows he mt

eithther remain inin control,r passss power on toto a trusted lieueunant. it's the only way heanan guarantee prprotection andn, prpresumably, imimpunity. president duterte: eitr r you killll me,r i wiwillill you u l. i don't give a [beep] aboutt criticism. for criticisms, after all, do not make a country progress and develop. reporter: in her cell, senator de lima is careful. e e only csumemes fo brougught by her own s staff. she says s she's afraid.d. and she has every reason to be. host: worldwide, there are around 258 million international migrants, people who livee sosomewhere other r than theire country.y. almomost half of t them are wo. 5050 million arere children. most are i in their adopoptd coununtry legally.y. in 2017 alone, migrants

transferred a total of $450 billion u.s. to their countries of origin. that's a significant economic contribution back home. and one that the countries of the horn of africa also benefit from. the continent's most eastern part has long been ravaged by war. ethihiia and eritrea have centntlyeclared peace -- officially, at least. somalia is still h highly fragile cocountry. but despitite high levelels of povertrty, the smallll, autonos regigion of somalililand has n relatively stable, politically and economically. reporter: trays of freshly baked treats. they don't just look good, they're the fulfillment of a lifelong dream. ifrah abdi artan grew up in the u.s. and is an american citizen. she planned to open a teahouse there with homemade cakes. but that proved too difficult.

after visiting her parents' homeland, the self-proclaimed republic of somaliland, she decided to try her luck here, in its capital hargeisa. that was three years ago. ifrah: fulfilling my dream here just feels so good. it wasn't easy. it's taken time, because the country is still getting on its feet. i have to be patient, as somaliland still has very little infrastructure. but there are many of us here who have got things moving. reporter: now ifrah employs four people. two who do the baking, and two service personnel. she trained them all herself. to escape somalia's seemingly endless cycle of war, ifrah's parents fled the country when she was just a child. in 1991, somaliland declared independence from the rest of the country. it's still officially part of

somalia, but now has its own democratically elected government. and it has peace. the economy is growing, although most of the population is still poor. a few years ago, the bad economic situation also prompted businessman abdirahman blackie to leave the country. abdirahman: on the day that i left this country, i was convinced that it had nothing to offer me. i think everyone who leaeaves their homeland thinks that way. but if they only knew how sweet, how precious and deserving of respect their own country is, i'm sure they'd all stay. reporter: he tried his luck in saudi arabia, but eventually returned disillusioned. today, he has a flourishing business in hargeisa. he sells food, exchanges money, and pursues other opportunities. nuurdin abdullahi hasn't had

things quite so easy. he, too, is a former migrant, who left his business and family behind in somalilandnd to cros the mediterranean to europe. today, he's back, working as a day laborer in a warehouse. nuurdin: i was in switzerland, but didn't get what i had expecteded and hoped for. it took me by surprise. i had a good life here, and then suddenly i was just a migrant. and that didn't allow me to achieve whatat i was aiming fo. reporter: after spending two years in a refugee shelter, abdullahi applied voluntarily to return to his family in somaliland. the swiss authorities even paid for his flight back. but he still has debts. it cost him $10,000 to get to europe. he's now slowly paying that money back. nuurdin: i wasn't even able to provide for myself in europe. i had nothing.

my wife would often call me and ask me to send her money. i was hehelpless in switzerlan, and she was helpless here. reporter: step by step, abdullahi now hopes to rebuild his life, here in somaliland. in spite of everything, he says he's happier than ever before, back with his wife and children. former migrants are now opening businesses everywhere back in somaliland. teahouse owner ifrah abdi artan is visiting a friend who used to live in canada. she's opened a beauty salon. the women give each other business tips and tackle problems together. ifrah: our country needs everything. so whatever kind of business you can open, you can succeed in. but you have to be patient, and not give up at the first hurdle. reporter: what's needed, she says, is more training

opopportunities s for young pee in somaliland, and more information about the risks and the challenges of trying to start a new life in europe or elsewhere. abdirahman blackie, who returned from saudi arabia, agrees. abdirahman: i'd tell you how i'd describe it. migration is a virus, and it's infected our society. people need to pull together to fight against it -- politicians, academics, the whole of society needs to come together to find solutions. reporter: one solution would certainly be to invest more money in education. blackie composes letters for those unable to read and write. because so many are illiterate here, business is booming. he doesn't regret his decision to return. abdirahman: i always say i spent two years abroadad for nothin.

you love money. if even you came back, then reporter: at hargeisa airport, the latest flight lands, bringing more young people back from libya. what are their plans now? shakeeb: i'm going to look for work. i don't care what kind. before i went away, i couldn't be bothered. but now i'll be the first to look for a job. reporter: perhaps some of them will even manage to live out their dreams here. like ifrah abdi artan, who returned from the u.s. for her, somaliland has now become the real land of opportunity, and life's looking sweet. host: today, our glolobal teen comefrom grenada. >> i am m a global teen.

jessemy: my y name is jessemyy staffordrd. i'i'm 17 yrsrs old and livive n grenada a in the caribibbea. grgrenada is a b beautiful ple whwhere people c come and enjoe bebeaches, go hihiking, and ey the e natural featatures, basic. i do not like e to reallgeget p earlin t the morning, , so i wl sasay to get up p early to comon to school l is very hardrd for. i am dngng electricacal engineerering right nonow, so wi finish the t two years i in tc i'll get an associatate degree where i can go to university and furtrther my educacation.

after i i finish universrsity,l build a business, , build a god business frorom the grou u up. i don't really go out much. i basically stay home, or only if i go o and play criricket i'o out. basasically i've e been plg cricket for my whole life, babasically from sinince i was g growing up. we'll play cricket. the kids in the community will play cricket together. i really do think i have a shot of making ththe national c crit team and e even going fufurth. i really do think ththat my lie isis a lot betteter than my grandpdparents' and d other foln mymy family's lilives.

my g grandparents worked on a plantation. it wasas realltougugh back i ie days i tend to live in the momentn. i don't realally like to think about ththe future. i knowow it's good to o think t it sometimimes, but i'rarather live in the e moment. host: this week in global ideas, we're ofoff to the republic of moldova. until 1991, the tiny nation was part of the soviet union. and it's still very dependent on russia for g gas. in f fact, gas makakes up a thif moldova's s import coststs. ththe governmentnt is determino ststep up its rereliance on renewawable ergieses, ich in turn is having an influence housing.

our repoporter wiebke e feuersr wantnted to find o outore andd spent some time on a rheher ununusuaconstrtrucon site.e. reporter: it's 9:00 a.m. aaa budingng siton thehe ee of thehe moldovan capital chisiu.u. 20 y youngeople e have come frm all l over the world to bud da hohouse getherer. goonon weuste fromom the germn non-n-profit organanization bu& grow expxplains thathe b builds are actutually busines professionalals who are woworkio help poor fafamilies here.e. gordon: i ofn see the emptins and inr dissatisfaction of my colleaeags who devise strategies but never get to see t the end resulult. ththis project i is completelyly different.t. herere, the team works towardsa common goal and changes lives. reporterweuste is years old and works as a business coultatant f an ininteationall mpany. over the past ye h he's aladyy built one hohouse, togetheher h his lleaeaguesnd a m molvan construction company e cocompanis calalleuniqa

walls and it specializes in a particularly ergy-efficit pre-fab bubuilding systetem. ththe young firmrm is a so-cad sosocial business. 10% of the b buildinprojojects anhohousesre fororocially sadvdvanged people. anol m malcea is one of th founrs.. anatol: the way we build, approximimately we makake these homes at least 75% more efficient thanan a traraditiol home building existingng in moldova. and, yeah, i think w we can contributete to this clilimate chchange iniatativesnd alsls otect our environment, our woods, and eveven do less imims from otherer countries.. reporter: most housinglolocks in momoldova were b built during st times. the ininsulation is s poor, on sosome cases nonon-existent. in the wintertime, the heating costs eat up about a third of a

normal income. those who o nage to put a little money asaside retrofitit insuln to t their apartmements. but the mustafa fami c can't affo it. they havave two childrdren. their son adadrian is sevevery disabled, and requires roundhehe clocock pantal c car olga: we livive on t f first floo and h herit's oftft very ld. by ctrasast, thosen n the fth floor nelyly die of heheat in e summmm. on t first and topop floor there are alalways problemems. ther the roof leaks, or you're plued d by ckroachchesmice, and bedbugugs because ththe cels too cold.. rereporter: now w the mustafasl be moving g into the newew hoe that's currently being assembled byby the businesess profession. their tiny apartment is not really suited to a disabled person's's needs. but the muststafas won't o onlye a new w home. alexanu,u, who ian a artisand

designerer, will have e a new , too. exandru:n the furere i'lbe working as a csultltanfor iqua w wls. i ha somome eas about dierent wa that oncan builthe fafade, to aid we-troddenesigns a attract a re excluve clientele, but not too compcacated. i ththk they could makgoodod u me. repoporter: the inindividual componenents of the nenew house made in a fafactory in thehe coununtry's northwest. alexandru mustafa has come her to s whihich fades t theompany fers so far. each hou is uniq. thdesign othe musta fami's home so o originateonon computut here. the e most important building material is timber. the company uses thehe leftovr scraps f for firewood.d.

adriaan:hahat you see bebehinde is a statack of raw wowood thae impoport, or we eieither buy m moldova. we cut it toto exact size e for panels. alalthe rest o of the wo i is ud to heat upup thientirere hall. reporter: eaeach panel consisisf a woodenen frame whichch is tn filled with lystyrene sheets. itit's a psticic, buit's unbeatable itermrms weighgh d densit then the panel is sealed wit fireroofof andaterprproo sheeting. adriaaaan woonink anand his cocollgues from uniqa e kekeen to pass onheir exptise, so th hold relar lectes at molda's techcal univsity. the unersity, ich is traing up thengineerof tomorrowhas madenergy suly and effiency onef its co themem. orel: thsisituatn is n n ry good ghght nobecausus ldova dends sole on one cotry, in terms ofasas and

petrol, on russi d for usit's verimportan to diversify sucsosource porter: it's day thr on the cocotruction site, a thehe house is sndining. now itit's time to f fit the wiwindows. the basic cotructiononost 50,000 euros. a part of f that was fininancey donationons from the v voluntr workers. in two h hours, the kekeys wile handed over. the inlalation a waterproong still haveve to be addeded toe roof. everyone is going haerer and tongngto get it t fished. lisanne: i i think it's totaly co thahat i n stayay ieurope and say, oka i i'm gng to wo this project, a knonow whe my money i is going. reportrter: in t the evening, s time for the big momenent.

the mumustafa familyly are givee kekeys to their r nehome. then i it's time to cecelebra. meanwhilile, the familily canw inspect their nerorooms. olga: : 's been such a wderfrful day. i feel grt,t, reay great. eveverince i met my huanand, we drmed ofof o day owning our own home. now that dream is rereality. it all a ait overwheheing. just superer. rereporter: someme of the teamt to take e part in the e next he buildiding project t too, and e we're back next week. in the meantime, please write to

us, global3000@dw.com. and check us out on facebook, dw global society. see you soon. ♪ [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]

sacred hindu temple and make history. their attendancnce today profitt clashes and protesests from conservative hindu groups. also on the program, a train crash on a bridge in denmark kills six passengers. authorities say carriages were hit by cargo that fell through a freight train. storm force winds batter the region.