Crossing Continents Folgen

It has one of the largest fishing fleets in the world and much of the catch from Thailand's fishing boats ends up on Japanese, European and American plates. Yet the industry stands accused of profiting from slave labour.The BBC's Becky Palmstrom investigates this tale of modern day slavery. She travels to Thailand and Myanmar to find out why and how illegal migrants are being forced onto Thai fishing boats, many of them working for months unpaid. She hears allegations of cruelty and even murder.In Thailand Becky meets Ken, from rural Myanmar, who hoped to make a better life for himself and his ageing parents. He ended up being trafficked twice onto Thai fishing boats. The BBC team was able to bring his parents, back in Myanmar, the first news they had had of their son for four years.The Thai authorities admit that most of their fishing fleet is unregistered and much of it relies on illegal migrant labour. The Thai government insists it is making every effort to clamp down on trafficking and forced labour in its fishing industry. Yet the US State Department has recently downgraded Thailand to Tier 3 in its "Trafficking in Persons Report (TIP)" - a measure of how little it believes Thailand is doing to curb the problem. Producer: John Murphy.

In the Spanish mining town of Turon a male choir meets once a week for rehearsals. They often sing to the patron saint of miners Santa Bárbara Bendita. Since 1934 miners have been singing this beautiful song in memory of four miners killed in a mining accident in the Maria Luisa mine. Coal mining, once a major industry in Spain, has been in decline for years and in the next few years the EU's subsidies for non-profitable pits will stop altogether. For most miners the closure of pits signals the death of their communities. Natalio Cosoy travels to northern Spain to talk to the miners and their families. Will Santa Bárbara Bendita watch over them as they face an uncertain future? James Fletcher producing.

The last decade has seen a dramatic increase in cocaine trafficking through Guatemala en route north, to the United States. Part of the fallout locally, has been a rise in addiction. As a result, more than 200 drug rehabilitation centres have been set up in the capital alone. Many of these are run by Pentecostal churches, with little oversight or regulation. Often addicts are swept up from the streets by 'hunting parties', and forced to attend such a centre. Linda Pressly travels to Guatemala City to investigate compulsory drug rehabilitation.