WASHINGTON — In 2009, Cambodian Prom Vannak Anan dove into a
dark sea and away from a life of beatings, unpaid labor and
imprisonment on a fishing boat. The lights of a port, four miles
distant, guided him. The desire to be free kept him swimming.
Anan had been a new father and husband in 2005 when a “job
agent” offered him a path to a better life, then moved him far
from home. Instead of a job, he was sold as a laborer to a Thai
boat owner. For years, he endured physical and emotional pain,
hoping for a chance to escape. So around midnight in 2009, as
the crew slept on a rare night when they anchored near enough to
see the shore, he swam for freedom. Instead of mercy, the
Malaysian police he’d hoped would help sold him to a palm oil
plantation. It took him another year – much of it in jail – to
finally find help, freedom and a way back to his family. On
Tuesday, the State Department named Anan among 10 people who
made a difference in fighting modern-day slavery worldwide.
Releasing its annual global report o