newsweek.com 01.04.2024
I Was a Victim of Sexual Abuse—Deepfake Nudes Are Ruining Lives
There is a common denominator between child sexual abuse and sexual exploitation by the means of AI.
Sara
Cincurova
sara.cincurova@gmail.com
I am a freelance human rights journalist from Slovakia, focusing on migration, conflict, human rights, humanitarian issues and women's rights.
I have written for The Guardian, BBC News, New York Magazine, Al Jazeera English, Der Spiegel, Foreign Policy, Newsweek, The HuffPost, Lighthouse Reports, Balkan Insight, The New Humanitarian, Women's Media Center, openDemocracy and many more. I also work as a fixer.
I am fluent in English, French, Russian and Slovak/Czech, and conversational in Polish, Ukrainian and Spanish.
I have covered the conflict in eastern Ukraine since 2014 and reported from Kharkiv and other cities in Ukraine as of 24 February 2022.
Altogether I've reported from more than twenty countries, and investigated issues such as sexualized violence against women dissidents in Venezuelan prisons or exploitation of Ukrainian refugees in Europe. In 2021, I was embedded aboard the Sea-Eye 4 search-and-rescue vessel in the Mediterranean as a journalist and participated in the rescue of 408 refugees.
I graduated with a Master's degree in Communication studies from Paris-Descartes-Sorbonne University (in 2012).
I received the following journalism awards:
- Newcomer of the Year/Hans Verploeg Award with Free Press Unlimited, 2023 (nominee)
- Elizabeth Neuffer Fellowship with the International Women's Media Foundation (IWMF), 2023 (runner-up)
- One World Media New Voice Award, 2023 (nominee)
- One World Media New Voice Award, 2022 (nominee)
- Honorable mention for best reporting at the 2021 Slovak Journalism Award.
I am a freelance human rights journalist from Slovakia, focusing on migration, conflict, human rights, humanitarian issues and women's rights.
I have written for The Guardian, BBC News, New York Magazine, Al Jazeera English, Der Spiegel, Foreign Policy, Newsweek, The HuffPost, Lighthouse Reports, Balkan Insight, The New Humanitarian, Women's Media Center, openDemocracy and many more. I also work as a fixer.
I am fluent in English, French, Russian and Slovak/Czech, and conversational in Polish, Ukrainian and Spanish.
I have covered the conflict in eastern Ukraine since 2014 and reported from Kharkiv and other cities in Ukraine as of 24 February 2022.
Altogether I've reported from more than twenty countries, and investigated issues such as sexualized violence against women dissidents in Venezuelan prisons or exploitation of Ukrainian refugees in Europe. In 2021, I was embedded aboard the Sea-Eye 4 search-and-rescue vessel in the Mediterranean as a journalist and participated in the rescue of 408 refugees.
I graduated with a Master's degree in Communication studies from Paris-Descartes-Sorbonne University (in 2012).
I received the following journalism awards:
- Newcomer of the Year/Hans Verploeg Award with Free Press Unlimited, 2023 (nominee)
- Elizabeth Neuffer Fellowship with the International Women's Media Foundation (IWMF), 2023 (runner-up)
- One World Media New Voice Award, 2023 (nominee)
- One World Media New Voice Award, 2022 (nominee)
- Honorable mention for best reporting at the 2021 Slovak Journalism Award.
More 
Selected Writing
womensmediacenter.com 12.01.2024
Sex for Aid: The Ongoing, Invisibilized Sexual Exploitation of Ukrainian Women - Women’s Media Center
After nearly two years since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the unchecked exploitation of Ukrainian women abroad — who are still displaced in different European countries, as well as internally, in Ukraine — is poised to create a crisis of sexual abuse
www.lighthousereports.com 18.04.2023
Europe’s funding of EU-banned pesticides
Farmers in the Global South bear the brunt of European public investments on dangerous pesticides outlawed by the EU
thenewhumanitarian.org 07.03.2023
After a year of war, millions of displaced still search for safety within Ukraine
‘For the second time in my life, I had to leave everything behind and flee again.’
thenewhumanitarian.org 27.02.2023
Ukraine reporter’s diary: ‘The desperation I saw was hard to process’
‘I’ve seen the lives of many Ukrainians turn into hell.’
womensmediacenter.com 29.09.2022
Hidden in Plain Sight: A Venezuelan Survivor of Incest Speaks Out
CARACAS — Angela Pilay, 35, was only 13 years old when her father started abusing her.
www.spiegel.de 21.09.2022
Ukrainian Refugees Report Cases of Exploitation in Europe
The EU prides itself on having welcomed Ukrainians displaced by the Russian invasion. But DER SPIEGEL reporting shows that ruthless businessman are seizing the opportunity to exploit the refugees. Some cases seem close to human trafficking.
www.spiegel.de 18.09.2022
Wie Ukrainerinnen in Europa ausgebeutet werden
Die EU brüstet sich, ukrainische Flüchtlinge mit offenen Armen zu empfangen. Doch SPIEGEL-Recherchen zeigen, wie Geschäftsleute geflüchtete Frauen ausnutzen. Einige Fälle grenzen an Menschenhandel.
thenewhumanitarian.org 13.07.2022
Nowhere left to turn, part 1: Venezuela’s COVID fallout leaves children dying and the poor scavenging for food
‘The cases of malnutrition we see are innumerable. The most affected are children below the age of two.’
womensmediacenter.com 21.04.2022
‘All I Can Do Is Pray’: Elderly and Disabled Women Left Behind in Eastern Ukraine - Women’s Media Center
The events following the February 24 Russian invasion of Ukraine brought despair for thousands of elderly and disabled civilians who were unable to flee. Russia has been claiming strikes on cities all around the country, and the fighting has left countles
www.thecut.com 22.03.2022
My Journey out of Ukraine
Russia’s invasion has forced 10 million Ukrainians to leave their homes. I saw firsthand how difficult it is to reach safety.
www.spiegel.de 01.03.2022
(S+) Flucht aus der Ukraine: Das Nadelöhr von Vyšné Nemecké
Hunderttausende Ukrainerinnen und Ukrainer fliehen aus dem Land. Seit Tagen versuchen Dima und seine Frau Viktoria verzweifelt, die slowakische Grenze zu erreichen. Noch steht nicht fest, ob sie sich in Sicherheit bringen können.
foreignpolicy.com 17.02.2022
Ukraine’s Kids Are Literally on the Front Line
Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian children suffer shellings, shootings, and psychological trauma.
www.aljazeera.com 17.02.2022
Photos: On Ukraine’s front lines, women endure the war alone
In eastern Ukraine, 1.6 million of the 2.9 million people in need are women, the UN says.
www.aljazeera.com 02.02.2022
Elderly Ukrainians: ‘I was born in a war and will die in war’
Al Jazeera speaks to some of the 900,000 pensioners on the front line, some of whom survived World War II.
www.aljazeera.com 26.01.2022
Holocaust Remembrance Day: Letters from Slovakia
American historian finds hundreds of desperate letters written by Slovak Jews during the Nazi era.
www.mediapart.fr 20.01.2022
Ukraine, les oubliés de la guerre
Dans la région du Donbass, entre l’Ukraine et la Russie, sévit toujours une guerre oubliée. Sur la ligne de front, celles et ceux qui sont restés tentent de survivre dans des villages dévastés, et co…
www.aljazeera.com 31.12.2021
‘I hear shelling’: Fear grips Ukrainian villages near Russia
Residents are losing hope in areas near the contact line between Russia-backed separatists and Ukrainian forces.
www.aljazeera.com 22.11.2021
The devastating ways women suffer at the Poland-Belarus border
Women refugees say they have miscarried, been separated from their children by border guards, and been hospitalised.
www.aljazeera.com 21.11.2021
In Pictures: Europe’s forgotten war grinds on
Conflict continues to blight the lives of civilians still living on the front lines in Ukraine’s Donbas region.
www.aljazeera.com 14.11.2021
‘Please save us’: Refugees face death at Poland-Belarus border
People are dying of cold and hunger at the doors of Europe, Nidal Ibrahim tells Al Jazeera from the Belarusian border.
www.aljazeera.com 11.11.2021
Fears grow for child refugees stranded on Belarus-Poland border
At least one child has died as others among the thousands of people at the border suffer from hunger and hypothermia.
SPIEGEL International 03.11.2021
Our Orders Are Clear. Nobody Gets Through.
Months of reporting has revealed the violent – and illegal – brutality the EU is deploying at its external borders to ward off migrants. Those few refugees who make it through describe beatings, harassment and abasement. Yet there are examples of what a h
www.aljazeera.com 19.08.2021
Taliban takeover ‘a trigger’ for child refugees in Greece
Children, many who arrived in Europe alone, say they fear for their families in Afghanistan.
www.thenewhumanitarian.org 27.07.2021
Women rescued from the Med tell of Libya detention centre abuse
Women and children face horrific violations in Libyan detention centres. Critics say EU policies are helping to perpetuate this cycle of abuse.
www.theguardian.com 22.05.2021
‘Parents risk children’s lives – the alternative is worse’: on board a migrant rescue ship
More than 700 people have died in the Mediterranean this year. But Sea-Eye, a German charity, is fighting hard to save lives
www.bbc.com 06.05.2021
‘I wasn’t allowed to look out of the window’
Domestic abuse: ‘I wasn’t allowed to look out of the window’
womensmediacenter.com 11.03.2021
‘I have seen tyranny’: Venezuelan Women Activists Recount Physical and Sexual Violence by Security Forces - Women’s Media Center
The UN fact-finding mission on Venezuela documented physical and sexualized violence committed against women and girls who took part in anti-government protests, or who were perceived as dissidents, as activists and journalists are actively targeted by se
womensmediacenter.com 04.01.2021
Less Than a Number’: How European Policies Leave Pregnant Refugees to Die in the Mediterranean
When the Alan Kurdi rescued me, I was unconscious,” said Raissa*, a refugee woman from Cameroon, referring to the rescue vessel operated by Sea-Eye, non-profit and civil sea rescue organization patrolling the Mediterranean. She had just fled a detention c
womensmediacenter.com 26.10.2020
Pregnant Women Are Still Crossing the Deadliest Migration Route in the World
The crossing was hellish,” said Zeinab Nourzehi, a 28-year-old refugee from Afghanistan. She was six months pregnant with her first child when she and her husband Pejvak departed from Izmir, on Turkey’s Aegean coast, for the Greek island of Lesbos in a di
www.thenewhumanitarian.org 04.06.2020
The challenge of collecting COVID-19 data in Venezuela
Venezuela probably doesn’t have one of the worst coronavirus outbreaks in Latin America. But how can we really know?
www.aljazeera.com 03.05.2020
Venezuela arbitrarily detaining reporters covering COVID-19: CPJ
Rights groups say 10 journalists have been detained and more than two dozen threatened due to work on the pandemic.
womensmediacenter.com 26.02.2020
Women journalists face life-threatening risks in Venezuela - Women’s Media Center
While Venezuela reels from its ongoing political and humanitarian crises, attacks against members of the press, and particularly women journalists, have become especially acute.
www.huffpost.com 29.08.2016
A Brief History Of The Transgender Movement In Slovakia
Many trans people in the country didn’t know that transitioning was possible