PENGUIN BOOKS
WHERE WERE YOU?
Matthew Friedman is a leading, internationally renowned global expert on modern slavery and human trafficking with over thirty-five years of experience as a manager, programme designer, evaluator, and front-line responder. An award-winning public speaker, author, filmmaker, and philanthropist, Matthew regularly advises heads of governments and intelligence agencies.
As the Founder and CEO of the Mekong Club, a consortium of global business leaders who are pledged to help fight human trafficking, Matthew is considered the leading catalyst of the anti-slavery movement in Asias business sector by captains of industry.
In 2017, Matthew received the prestigious Asia Communicator of the Year Gold Award for giving more than 800 presentations to 80,000 people, including government leaders and the Vatican, on the topic of modern slavery within a five-year period in multiple countries. Matthew has a unique and powerful speaking style that inspires people and helps them reach their fullest potential.
Each year, he is cited at least forty times in news media, such as CNN, Bloomberg, Reuters, Associated Press, the Financial Times , and The Economist , and he is invited to speak at major international conferences around the world.
He has managed and directed tens of millions of dollars to major humanitarian portfolios for the World Bank, the US State Department, and the United Nations, impacting millions of lives. His work over the last thirty-five years, pioneering and managing international anti-human trafficking projects in Nepal, Bangladesh, Thailand, and Hong Kong, has given him access to many influential networks in different countries throughout the world.
Matthew is the author of thirteen books ranging from action novels, non-fiction accounts of his anti-human trafficking work, to a book that outlines his unique philosophy of time. A long-time supporter of film and the media arts, Matthew was an executive producer and advisor on four award-winning films, one of which was nominated for an Emmy and another of which was executive-produced by Emma Thompson.
Matthew provides a range of inspirational keynote speeches to teach, mentor and motivate people from all walks of life to step up and take a stand in life. He has an uncanny ability to take something as complicated and confusing as slavery and break it down into a series of simple messages that walk a person down a path to understanding. He has shifted the mindsets of manyeven the most resistant detractors. His is always a message of hope.
Matthew is married to Sylvia Yu Friedman who is an award-winning journalist, filmmaker, international speaker, and author of Silenced No More: Voices of Comfort Women who also fights the scourge of modern slavery. Together, in the summer of 2016, they gave 113 presentations in twenty-seven US cities.
ADVANCE PRAISE FOR WHERE WERE YOU?
Matts grasp of the issue(s) of human trafficking is thirty years deep, and reflects a long journey of action and reflection which he graciously allows us to learn from. There is something here for all of us, and indeed it will TAKE all of us to end human trafficking. Thats the moral of Matts superb book.
-Jennifer Roemhildt Tunehag Co-founder, European Freedom Network Core team, Freedom Business Alliance Member, World Evangelical Alliance Global Human Trafficking Task Force
Must read for all. I highly commend this book for everyone to read whether you are an inquirer or a veteran abolitionist. If you are a government employee, business person or NGO worker, this is a must read. There is a growing list of literature to read on the topic of slavery and human trafficking, this one should be one of the first to read. In this new and very readable profile of modern slavery, Matt Friedman gives a well-balanced take on the issue, his experience, and what each of us can do practically to join the second generation abolition movement.
-Peter J Mihaere, CEO, Stand Against Slavery
Where Were You?: A Profile of Modern Slavery by Matthew S. Friedman, is a short text that has appeal for both the beginner and the veteran abolitionist. The theme of the book is really that of Friedmans personal experience as a counter trafficking agent over the past few decades Overall, I really enjoyed reading this book. I felt the authors transparency was very inspiring.
-Rachael Williams-Mejri, Editor, Grace As Justice Magazine
Accounts Mr Friedman relates are disturbing, troubling, and overwhelming, but must be told. In often what seems too-vivid detail, he describes lives of some of the most forgotten and used unfortunates, who are mostly women. Where Were You? , a readable, concise account of human suffering, must be read by all the fortunate enjoying a safe, comfortable life, to be enlightened that not all humans are so lucky. We Americans too easily dismiss human trafficking as something that happens over there. Detailing the extent of the problem in the US, he honestly labels it what it isslavery. Read it. You will be moved, angry, overwhelmed.
-Frank Hilo
Although often difficult to read due to its subject matter, members of the counter-trafficking community will find a wealth of valuable insights in this book about not only the world of slavery, but how to fight it.
-B M Vance
It is with great pleasure that I write in recommendation of Matthew S. Friedman.
Throughout the world there are many deeply committed individuals and organizations engaging in vital anti-slavery work. Matthew stands out among them for his pioneering and leadership work in the fight against human trafficking and modern slavery for more than thirty-five years. He has helped mobilize a small army of people around the world who have stepped up to be a part of an abolitionist movement.
Matthew currently is the CEO of the Mekong Club, an Asia-based global non-profit organization that enlists the support of the private sector to be active responders in the fight against modern slavery. He has recruited over a hundred business professionals and captains of industry to step up and use their expertise to participate in working groups, develop tools and promote pro-business agenda related to the anti-modern slavery movement. I believe The Mekong Club is a leaderuniting and mobilizing the private sector for a common causeto disrupt and abolish modern slavery.
Since 1985, Matthew has worked for the US Government, United Nations, NGO and private sector, and his list of extraordinary milestones include:
Giving presentations on human trafficking and modern slavery to over 120,000 people in thirty countries;
He has completed speaking tours across five Asia Pacific Countries: Singapore, Japan, Sri Lanka, Australia, and Bangladesh;
Matthew and his two adult sons completed an eighteen-day road trip across the USA to reach companies, schools, and the general public to promote an abolitionist campaign (over 10,000 people reached through twenty-five events);
With his wife Sylvia, they have completed a seventy road-trip speaking tour across the USA (114 presentations to over 15,000 people reached);
Raised over US$18 million for a range of programs implemented by the UN, US government and NGOs;
Helped to set up national anti-trafficking programs in nine countries to best utilize their available resources to have the most impact;
Managed two major regional government platforms to bring about multi-lateral collaboration between countries;
