Episode 18: Ling Li - Criminalized Victims: Human Trafficking Behind Southeast Asia’s Scam Centers

Episode 22: From Climate Crisis to Human Exploitation - Research Results from Antigua and Barbuda

Climate change is often framed as an environmental or economic crisis. But there is a dimension that rarely makes it into the conversation: how environmental disruption can push people into situations of trafficking, forced labor, and exploitation. In the latest episode of Conversations on Modern Slavery, our team explores that connection through the lens of Antigua and Barbuda, a small island developing state that sits on the front lines of climate change and its consequences. We are joined by Marver Woodley, Senior Operations and Policy Manager in Antigua and Barbuda's Department of Blue Economy, bringing local knowledge and lived reality to a global conversation, Dr. Bethany Jackson (University of Nottingham), whose research maps climate hazards to exploitation risk across regions, and Dr. Marta Furlan, Senior Program Manager for Research at Free the Slaves who conducted the research. Our research identified six interconnected pathways through which climate change deepens vulnerability: loss of livelihood, health impacts, housing insecurity, forced mobility, disrupted education, and food and water insecurity. These do not operate in isolation. They create a cycle of vulnerability, and that cycle demands a people-centered response. Read the research here: https://freetheslaves.net/climate-change-and-human-exploitation-in-antigua-and-barbuda/

Episode 21: Traveling Without the Truth is Dangerous

In this powerful episode of our Conversations on Modern Slavery podcast, we sit down with Ghanaian advocate, storyteller, and survivor leader SherryNorth, also known as Missy Resilience. Sherrynorth shares her journey with honesty and courage—from being deceived by false promises of overseas opportunity, to confronting exploitation the moment she landed, to reclaiming her voice through music, advocacy, and global activism. Her story is not only about surviving trafficking—it’s about transforming trauma into leadership. She speaks candidly about: • How recruitment systems failed her long before she left Ghana • The fear and abuse she faced while working abroad • The role of community, dignity, and safe spaces in healing • What governments must change to protect migrant workers • Her message for young women considering similar migration pathways • The songs she wrote to tell her story when words felt too heavy Sherri’s voice is a reminder that survivors are not just witnesses to injustice—they are leaders redefining how the world responds to trafficking.

Episode 20: Life as Child Domestic Workers in Kathmandu

In this episode of Conversations on Modern Slavery, host Bryon Lippincott speaks with Dr. Marta Furlan (Senior Program Manager for Research, Free the Slaves) and researcher Ranjana Sharma about the results on child domestic workers in Kathmandu, Nepal. Drawing on a participatory study by Free the Slaves and CWISH Nepal, they unpack how very young children are recruited from rural communities, why families and intermediaries facilitate the move to cities, and what daily life looks like once children arrive. You’ll hear about: • Push–pull factors shaping recruitment and rural-to-urban movement • Gaps between the promise of schooling and the reality of long workdays • Isolation from family and peers, and why teachers often don’t see what’s happening • How employers understand their role, and where their narratives diverge from children’s • Concrete recommendations for government, employers, teachers, and child-rights groups Content note: This episode discusses child labor, domestic work, and violence. Resources: • Full research report [https://freetheslaves.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Life-as-Child-Domestic-Workers-in-Kathmandu-.pdf] • Executive summary [https://freetheslaves.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Life-as-Child-Domestic-Workers-in-Kathmandu-Executive-Summary.pdf] • Child-friendly version of the report [https://freetheslaves.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Life-as-Child-Domestic-Workers-in-Kathmandu-Child-Friendly.pdf] For background on the study’s methodology, listen to Episode 15. Subscribe for future conversations with researchers, survivor leaders, frontline advocates, and policy experts.

Episode 19: Jeff Ochieng: The Day a Worker Lives

Conversations on Modern Slavery sits down with Jeff Ochieng, a Kenyan photojournalist and writer with 10+ years in mainstream and independent media. Jeff began in Mathare as a teenager, screening award-winning early films and building a journalism portfolio. A survivor of human trafficking in the Middle East, he now reports on migrant exploitation and the kafala system, with work featured on Migrant-Rights.com and MigrantNarrativesAfrica.com. Based in Mombasa with his wife and two children, Jeff traces a journey that started with a promised job in Qatar that didn’t exist, moving on to Bahrain where he experienced confiscated phones and was forced to sign unread contracts. His experience culminated in  17 hour workdays, including transit. He shares the advice he gives would-be migrants, and the lever he argues changes lives: empathy in practice, backed by standards that actually bite. If you work in migration, labor rights, research, or policy, this episode connects the system to the day a worker actually lives.

Episode 18: Ling Li - Criminalized Victims: Human Trafficking Behind Southeast Asia’s Scam Centers

Scam compounds across Southeast Asia are rapidly emerging as one of the most alarming forms of modern slavery—where victims are trafficked, held under constant surveillance, and forced to carry out cybercrime schemes. In this episode of Conversations on Modern Slavery, Bryon Lippincott (Head of Communications at Free the Slaves) and Kuldeep Singh Chauhan (Asia Regional Director) are joined by scholar, researcher, and advocate Ling Li to unpack the hidden world behind these walls. Together, they trace the evolution of cyber-scam operations from early phone fraud to today's militarized compounds run by transnational criminal networks. Ling shares insights from her upcoming book SCAM, revealing how technology, crypto, and the legal grey zones of regional governance fuel this exploitative system. This conversation brings urgency and nuance to an underreported crisis—and centers the need for survivor-led, systemic solutions. Connect with Ling Li on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/ling-li-459637155/ Check out her upcoming book Scam: Inside Southeast Asia's Cybercrime Compounds through the links below: Verso Books https://www.versobooks.com/en-gb/products/3234-scam Amazon https://a.co/d/h7vHUi8