Noy Thrupkaew

Noy Thrupkaew is a journalist who writes about human trafficking and labor exploitation with an emphasis on workers' resilience and right to organize. An Open Society Fellow, she investigated the largest human trafficking cases in the United States, which involve hundreds of Thai farmers and Indian metalworkers working under conditions of severe intimidation, debt, and the threat of deportation. She also examined the complexities of the U.S. guestworker program and law-enforcement responses to human trafficking for the purposes of forced prostitution in South and Southeast Asia, as well as exploring ways to develop greater accountability in counter-trafficking initiatives. She is a keen critic of the role of anti-trafficking organizations in the struggle against it, calling for long-range approaches that go beyond mere prohibition.

As an independent journalist, Thrupkaew has written for a wide variety of outlets including The Nation, National Geographic, and The New York Times. Thrupkaew has worked as a senior correspondent for The American Prospect and is the recipient of Fulbright and International Reporting Project grants. She has reported extensively from Cambodia, Thailand, Burma, Iran, Morocco, and Cuba for many publications, including The Nation, the Guardian, National Geographic, and Marie Claire. She received her bachelor's degree, magna cum laude, from Brown University.