Amel workshop underscores the dramatic situation of MWDWs in Lebanon

The Amel International Organisation organized in collaboration with Aequitas-Cyprus, and with the support of the Anna Lindh Foundation a workshop entitled: “supporting women migrant workers in Lebanon in the absence of legal protection”. The event was held last week at the UNESCO palace in Beirut and started by a keynote address by Amel’s president, Kamel Mehanna, who spoke about the realities of migrant workers.  Mehanna noted that the last years witnessed a rise in the numbers of domestic workers with an estimate total number of 200,000 the overwhelming majority of whom are women.  Mehanna also pointed out to the incidents of abuse and exploitation of migrant workers as well as the local international and local concern with the regular death of MWDW at a rate of one per week.  To be noted that out of 97 MWDW death between 2007 and 2008, only 14 were due to health reasons and that is according to the Human Watch report for 2008.  According to another study conducted by Kafa and which was released in 2010, some 31% of employers detain their domestic workers at home and 88% of employers confiscate their employees travel documents.  In addition, tens of death are registered as “falling off” or as suicide as per the monitoring of local newspapers which covered the period between August 2010 and August 2011.  Mehanna also spoke about the absence of legal protection as MWDW are excluded from the provisions of the labor law whereas Lebanon has still not signed the international convention for the protection of migrant workers.  He added that the latest reforms, namely the endorsement of the standard employment contract, did not secure protection from abuse and exploitation.
For her part, the head of the control department at the Ministry of Labor, Marlene Atallah, noted that although MWDW constitute an important proportion of the labor force in Lebanon, challenges remain great notably given the limited administrative capacities of the Ministry.  Atallah added that the Ministry is doing its best to take the necessary administrative measures regarding this category of workers.
Source: AL-Nahar, Al-Safir, Al-Mustaqbal 21 July 2014