Sompong Sakaew - Thailand

Sompong Sakaew founded the Labor Rights Promotion Network (LPN) in 2006 to address discrimination against migrant workers in Thailand's seafood processing center. Sompong and LPN were instrumental in a 2006 police raid of a Thai shrimp processing factory, which found 66 Burmese victims of forced labor in that factory. He 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. Sompong's investigative work in these cases helped shape Thailand's new anti-trafficking law of 2008, which criminalizes labor trafficking and strengthens penalties for violators. In addition to its labor rights advocacy work, LPN now provides schooling for the vulnerable children of migrant workers, as well as stateless children who are denied access to education.