New Podcast: Activists Talk to POGO about Human Trafficking and Government Contractors

By ANDRE FRANCISCO

You might not realize it, but U.S. taxpayer dollars are being used to fund labor trafficking. U.S. government contractors working in contingency zones often bring in laborers for various projects through subcontrators. But these laborers—usually men from poor, rural areas in places like India—are often taken advantage of. They're forced to live in appalling conditions, and sometimes promises of work never materialize, despite the enormous sums that the laborers pay to get to job sites. 

All of this is enabled by a lack of oversight from the U.S. federal government.

POGO’s podcast team recently sat down with Sam McCahon and Sindhu Kavinamannil, two activists who are making a documentary about this labor trafficking process.

McCahon is a former federal prosecutor, former general counsel for Agility (a major Pentagon contractor), and is currently in private practice with his law firm, McCahon Law LLC.

Kavinamannil  is a certified fraud examiner, has experience in establishing and maintaining compliance programs in Iraq, Kuwait, and India, and is the CEO of Compliance Consulting Services.

We ended up having a fascinating discussion about the intricacies of this often-overlooked issue.

Listen to the podcast here, and make sure to subscribe to our podcasts on iTunes for discussion on other important topics.

(Want to see what Sindhu and Sam look like? Check out our video trailer for this podcast below the jump.)

Andre Francisco is a POGO Communications Associate.

Image via Flickr user visual.dichotomy.