Abolishing kafala, towards a unified work contract for women migrant workers, 

As part of the “Kafala System Reform” initiative, the labor ministry organized a workshop on Friday with the theme, “The unified work contract for migrant men and women domestic workers”. Participants included the International Labor Organization (ILO), Amnesty International, Caritas, Kafa and Human Rights Watch. During the workshop, the minister of labor Lamia Yammin disclosed that her ministry has recently completed a draft of the unified work contract as a first step in dismantling or abolishing the kafala (sponsorship) system. Similarly, a senior immigration specialist pointed out that the issue of migrant women domestic workers (MWDWs) is controversial, complex and diverse, stating that developing a solution for that purpose is not easy. “We may not be able to achieve this in the near future, but we have embarked on the reform plan since last year but the latest developments in Lebanon have delayed our work,” he said. (Al Diyar, June 22, 2020)