Need help finding your next favourite documentary? Below is a list of our best documentaries about human rights issues, that are available to watch on our YouTube channel right away. 

Secret Slaves of the Middle East (2016)

By Puk Damsgaard & Søren Klovborg

This is a story of how poverty leads unprivileged women from developing countries to be deceived and trafficked into slavery.

Mary Joy Dao-Ay is one such woman. She is a Filipino who left her three children to be a domestic worker in Lebanon so that she could pay for their education. Instead, she was forced to flee for her own safety, and got stuck in Lebanon seeking refuge at a shelter. 

If you like learning about women’s rights and modern slavery, we think you would appreciate this insightful film. 

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Taxi to the Dark Side (2007) 

By Alex Gibney

This incredible film won an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 2008. It explores the American Military’s use of torture post-9/11 at bases like Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay. The story is centred on the unsolved murder of an Afghan taxi driver who, in 2002, was taken for questioning at Bagram Force Air Base. Five days later, the man was pronounced dead due to excessive physical abuse. 

If you’re interested in what happened after 9/11 and in Guantanamo Bay, this is the film for you.

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Stealing Africa (2012)

By Christoffer Guldbrandsen

This is a story of contrasts. It is a story about a company with two ends: a corporate suite in Rüschlikon, Switzerland and mines in Zambia where it extracts its precious copper. Ivan Glasenberg, CEO of Glencore, generates more tax revenue for the Swiss village than it can use, but very little for the 60% of Zambians who are living on less than $1 a day. 

If you’re interested in post-colonialism and poverty in Africa, ‘Stealing Africa’ is our recommendation to you. 

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The End of the Game (2017)

By David Graham Scott

If you’re looking for a film with a captivating central character, look no further than 73-year-old colonial relic Guy Wallace in ‘The End of the Game’. He is followed by vegan filmmaker David Graham Scott as he tries to bag a Cape buffalo on his last game hunt in South Africa. The oddball relationship between David and Guy is the central drive of the film as the director explores the ethics of big game hunting and questions his own animal rights stance when lured in by the thrill of the hunt. 

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^{I Was a Yazidi Slave (2018)}

By David Evans

What happens after genocide?

In August 2014, an Islamic State massacre of unimaginable proportions took place during the rapid invasion of the Yazidi people in Sinjar, northern Iraq. Young Yazidi women were separated from the old and taken to the Galaxy Cinema in Mosul. There they were paraded, selected, enslaved, tortured and systematically raped. Some girls were only 11 years old.

This film tells the story of two Yazidi women captured by IS, who escaped to Germany thanks to the intervention of Dr Jan Kizilhan. In all, Dr Kizilhan brought one thousand women and girls from the refugee camps in Iraq to his clinic for treatment. 

Watch the documentary to follow the recovery journey of these Yazidi women’s and understand how a survivor of unthinkable sexual violence can find justice and a path to rehabilitation. 

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Please Vote for Me (2007)

By Weijun Chen

How do eight-year olds do democracy? In this film, Director Weijun Chen conducts an experiment with a grade 3 class in Wuhan, China, by holding an election to select a class monitor. The children compete against each other for the coveted position, abetted and egged on by teachers and doting parents. 

The documentary is an insightful look at how democracy might be received if it came to China. Chen leads us to question; is democracy a universal value that fits human nature? Do elections inevitably lead to manipulation?

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Solar Mamas (2012)

By Mona Eldaief & Jehane Noujaim

For a more uplifting examination of poverty, watch this story of a Bedouin woman from one of Jordan's poorest desert villages, who becomes the first female solar engineer in the country. 

She attends Barefoot College, which trains illiterate grandmothers from around the world for 6 months so that they can electrify their villages, train more engineers, and provide for their daughters. But upon returning, her real challenge begins. Will she find support for her new venture? Will she be able to inspire the other women in the village to join her and change their lives? And most importantly, will she be able to rewire the traditional minds of the Bedouin community that stand in her way?

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North Korea’s Dollar Heroes (2018)

By Carl Gierstorfer & Sebastian Weis

This film is our most viewed video on YouTube, and it’s easy to see why. 

North Korea is a country shrouded in secrecy and notoriously cash-strapped. As highlighted by this film, they have resorted to running one of the world’s largest slaving operations to finance their own political agenda. These bonded labourers can be found in Russia, China and dozens of other countries around the world - including EU member states.