The U.S. Department of State’s 2008 Trafficking in Persons Report highlights the work of two longtime Solidarity Center partners: Sompong Sakaew, founder of the Labor Rights Promotion Network (LPN) in Thailand, and Marietta Dias, an Indian retiree and naturalized Bahraini citizen who created the Migrant Workers Protection Society.

	Marietta Dias	Sompong Sakaew

Sompong and the LPN were instrumental in encouraging Thai police to raid two shrimp processing plants where migrant workers were kept locked in the workplace under deplorable conditions. LPN volunteers then accompanied police on raids of the plants to protect the rights of the migrant workers freed in the process. The workers' stories are detailed in the Solidarity Center’s report The True Cost of Shrimp. Sompong also worked to highlight the plight of 60 surviving crew members from six fishing trawlers that returned to port after 39 crew members starved to death at sea. His investigative work in these cases helped shape Thailand’s new anti-trafficking law of 2008, which criminalizes labor trafficking and strengthens penalties for violators. LPN also provides schooling for the vulnerable children of migrant workers, as well as stateless children who are denied access to education.

Dias heads the action committee of the MWPS, a Bahrain-based community organization founded in 2005 that supports the rights of migrant laborers from all countries. The Solidarity Center has worked with MWPS since 2007. MWPS maintains a small shelter for trafficking victims, brings media attention to their stories, assists workers in court, and facilitates mediation between workers and their sponsors. The organization’s primary focus is on domestic labor, although MWPS also supports manual laborers in need of assistance. Dias is the public face of MWPS, coordinating with embassies, government agencies, and welfare groups to seek justice and/or repatriation for workers and raising global awareness about migrant worker issues in Bahrain. Between August 1, 2007, and February 1, 2008, the MWPS action committee cooperated closely with the Indian embassy in Bahrain to assist workers who took advantage of a short-term government amnesty initiative by legitimizing their presence or returning home.

“We applaud the important work that Sampong and Marietta are doing to help migrant workers,” said Solidarity Center Executive Director Ellie Larson. “Together we will continue the fight against human trafficking.”