Uncovering slave labor on Thai fishing boats

Thailand is the world's third-largest exporter of seafood, shipping shrimp, tuna and other fish to supermarket chains and pet food companies in the U.S. and Europe.

But a series of investigations by the Associated Press and other news agencies have highlighted a pervasive problem in the Thai fishing industry: the use of slave labor from people tricked or kidnapped into working at sea. The work of the AP was so dramatic and had such far-reaching impact that it garnered the news agency a Pulitzer prize for public service journalism this year.

On this edition of Global Journalist, a look at slavery at sea in Southeast Asia, and what’s being done to fight it.

Note: This program originally aired on April 28, 2016.

Our guests this week:

• Margie Mason, the Asia regional writer for the Associated Press, and part of the Pulitzer-winning team.
• Matthew Smith, executive director of Fortify Rights, a human rights organization working in Southeast Asia.
• Lisa Rende Taylor, executive director of the Issara Institute, a non-government organization that focuses on stopping human trafficking.
• Hoa Nguyen, an international consultant who has worked previously with the UN and other agencies on human trafficking issues.