Lacuna Magazine - Lacuna Magazine

Three defiant fists reach upwards into multicoloured shards

International Women’s Day 2025: 9 inspiring women and girls campaigning for justice

On International Women’s Day, these stories highlight inspiring women and girls around the world who are fighting for justice and championing human rights. From a cultural vlogger turned war reporter to mothers demanding justice a decade after their children’s disappearance, and a Sudanese refugee determined to rebuild her life, these narratives shine a light on the courage and resilience of women striving to be heard while empowering others to do the same.

Mary Griffin and Clementine Burg

March 5, 2025

Man standing in front of their brick house, with cardboard boxes on the lawn, getting evicted after welfare payments stop in a time of bereavement.

Economy Insider

How austerity and benefits policies punish grieving people

The pain of grieving a loved one is intensified when those mourning are also cut off from the welfare and benefits payments they need to survive. With personal experience of this, Kai Charles explores how UK welfare policy and the legacy of Austerity Britain hurts the poor, disabled and marginalised.

Kai Charles

February 26, 2025

Photograph of Nuuk, Greenland's capital with wooden houses in the front and snowy mountains in the back; for Lacuna story on forced sterilisation in Greenland

Food & Health Witness

Greenland’s ‘coil campaign’: Photographer Juliette Pavy exposes the forced contraception of thousands of Inuit women and girls

 Juliette Pavy was named Sony World Photographer of the Year 2024 for her series Spiralkampagnen: Forced Contraception and Unintended Sterilisation of Greenlandic Women. Sophie Holloway hears how Pavy discovered the issue and how she supported Inuit women to tell their stories. It was the summer of 2022 in the Arctic. French photojournalist Juliette Pavy had… Read more »

Sophie Holloway

February 11, 2025

From the Editor

Justice From the Editor

Short stories about human rights by young writers

For the last eight years, we have invited young people, aged 14 to 18, to tell their own stories about human rights and social justice. Find a collection of stories, fiction and non-fiction, from the Writing Wrongs Schools Programme, a free outreach course run from the Centre for Human Rights in Practice.

Mary Griffin

January 29, 2025

a hand sketches a picture of a bird on a spiral notepad

Insider

Migration Insider

A Modern Frankenstein

Ollie Hadgie is the joint-winner of the University of Warwick’s eighth annual Writing Wrongs Schools’ Competition. Their story uses the metaphor of Frankenstein to unpick their experience of being a first-generation immigrant, caught between heritage and identity as a teenager in modern Britain.

Ollie Hadgie

January 24, 2025

Illustration of a teenager in a white t-shirt, with brown choppy hair, brown eyes and a face coloured in green.

Looking back at 2024

Justice From the Editor

2024 wrap: Around the world in 15 human rights stories

Mary Griffin

December 21, 2024

Photograph by Jaclynn Ashly showing the Light of St. George Church Ethiopia, located on the other side of the Qeha River - for Lacuna story on religious tensions in Ethiopia

Justice Witness

Untangling the roots of religious tensions in Gondar, Ethiopia

Jaclynn Ashly

December 11, 2024

A woman stands in a doorway holding her daughter. She is wearing a white patterned hijab and is smiling at her daughter who looks at the camera. Her daughter has hot pink hair clips in and is wearing a light yellow top

Migration Interview

While We Wait: The stories of seven refugees waiting to restart their lives

Rayna Carruthers

November 27, 2024

From the Editor

Justice From the Editor

Explore the world with this interactive map of human rights journalism

To mark 10 years of Lacuna Magazine, we have gathered a decade of human rights journalism, creative writing and storytelling from around the globe into an interactive world map.

James Harrison

October 9, 2024

A satellite image shows the curve of the earth and cities lit up in darkness

From the Editor

Politics From the Editor

Our 10 most popular stories of the last 10 years

In Lacuna Magazine’s first decade, our stories have been read more than half a million times and by readers in every country of the world. Clicks don’t give the full picture or measure a story’s value – and you can find our editors’ pick of articles here – but the pieces below are some of the magazine’s most popular, and they deserve to be celebrated.

Andrew Williams

October 9, 2024

Human rights storytelling

Justice From the Editor

2024 wrap: Around the world in 15 human rights stories

Mary Griffin

December 21, 2024

Illustration shows woman standing in front of a blackboard

Justice From the Editor

6 human rights stories by teachers and students: A look back at 2023

Sarah Bamberger

December 13, 2023

An empty cinema auditorium with red seats and dimmed lights

Justice Creative

How do you curate a human rights film festival?

Misha Zakharov

October 24, 2023

From the Editor

Justice From the Editor

Editors’ pick: 10 years of Lacuna Magazine

To celebrate turning 10, Lacuna Magazine is sharing 10 of our favourite stories from the past decade as chosen by our editors. The writers include school pupils, university students, journalists, academics, activists and members of the public, writing about issues as diverse as Islamophobia, rewilding the Scottish Highlands and, perhaps most crucially, love.

Mary Griffin

October 9, 2024

A woman, centre, holds a flag, flanked by two lines of protesters with flags on either side of the street

Stories from Palestine

Image of Palestine art on West Bank separation wall by Northern Lights 119

War & Peace Insider

Resistance is existence: The defiant Palestinian art of the West Bank Separation Wall

Jaskiran Sandhu

March 13, 2024

Bisan Owda stands holding a camera with a refugee camp in the background

Economy Feature

Bisan Owda: Palestine’s Cultural Vlogger Turned War Reporter

Eli Langfere

March 5, 2024

Prefabricated barracks Nahr El Bared Camp.

War & Peace Creative

Poems for Palestine

Laila Sumpton

January 14, 2015

From the Editor

Justice From the Editor

Building a human rights career: How to be a human rights lawyer, journalist or humanitarian

Many people dream of a human rights career, helping others and creating change, but how do you take the first steps? We asked human rights lawyers, humanitarians and journalists to tell us about essential qualifications and experience, and offer valuable advice to students just starting out.

Ruby Turok-Squire

April 28, 2023