Labor of Loss
From the open waters of Southeast Asia’s notorious fishing industry to Malaysia’s sprawling palm oil plantations, this series puts human trafficking and labor exploitation in Asia under the microscope. Millions of people are estimated to be trafficked in Asia each year, caught up in complex web of supply chains that stretch across the globe and keep millions of others fed, clothed and housed. Exploitation is deeply entrenched… but is change possible, and what does it look like? Find out in this new series.
Episodes
8 episodes
Episode 7: Is Change Possible?
In the last episode of the series, we look at the big picture. What's driving human trafficking and what needs to be done to stop it? Hear unique perspectives from earlier guests Archana and Mustafa joined by Bijaya who is working to secure the...
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Season 1
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Episode 7
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31:20
Episode 6: The Trafficker Next Door
This episode looks at a type of exploitation women in particular face: being forced into marriage. We go on a harrowing journey with Srey Pov, a young woman from Cambodia who was told she'd be working in a shoe factory in China, but instead was...
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Season 1
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Episode 6
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30:10
Episode 5: Disposable People
This episode, COVID-19 and migrant construction workers in the Gulf states. What happens to the most vulnerable workers when the world is stopped by a global pandemic? We go back in time with researchers Mustafa and his colleague Rameshwar, and...
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Season 1
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Episode 5
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29:39
Episode 4: Who Cares for the Carers?
We head back to Malaysia and hear about the women who leave their own homes and families to live abroad as domestic workers. They raise entire generations of kids across Asia and care for the elderly. They keep households all over the region ru...
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31:52
Episode 3: Carrot and Stick
This episode, a show in two parts – and both of them are about palm oil plantations in Malaysia. First, with Manggalam, we explore the colonial legacy of migrant labor, when palm plantations were still rubber plantations and workers were indent...
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Season 1
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Episode 3
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30:46
Episode 2: Let Me Out
"This drawing of mine shows my accident where I lost my hand in the brickyard, in the factory." In this episode, we take a look inside the brick industry and the pervasive practice of debt bondage made worse by climate change – via a tour...
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Season 1
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Episode 2
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27:34
Episode 1: The Catch
In the first episode we head out to sea and find out what life is like for migrant fishermen. We meet Indonesian fisherman Ari and a South Korea-based lawyer named JC Kim. They didn’t know it, but they were looking for each other for years – an...
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Season 1
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Episode 1
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29:17
Introducing Labor of Loss - Coming July 30th
Labor of Loss is a new series that explores human trafficking and labor exploitation across Asia, taking listeners on a journey from a fishing fleet in South Korea to a palm oil plantation in Malaysia to a brick kiln in Cambodia. Gu...
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Season 1
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Episode 0
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1:54