Following pressure, Ministry of Justice repeals decision banning relations between migrant workers

Civil society and legal lobby groups, including the proposed union of migrant domestic workers and the Notaries of Lebanon, succeeded in forcing the General Security Directorate to repeal its circular that refuses to recognize all forms of emotional and contractual relationships between migrant workers of the third and fourth categories during their contractual work in Lebanon. (for full news: Notaries refuse General Security circular regarding foreign domestic workers). To this effect, the Justice Ministry issued on the first of July a memo asking all notaries to consider the above GS circular as void and nil and return to the previous arrangement regulating the sponsorship system. The new circular was welcomed by all notaries who lauded the Justice Ministry’s positive step in response to a letter issued on June 10, 2015 by the Council of Notaries asking for cancellation of said GS decision. To note, that seven associations, including the “Founding Committee of the General Union of Cleaning and Care Workers” urged in a detailed memo on May 13 the Justice Minister to cancel the GS Circular 1778 which they argued violated international conventions on human rights and all legal principles. In this respect, the Legal Agenda Executive Director lawyer Nizar Saghieh told Al Akhbar newspaper that what happened is one of the rare cases in which a public institution positively responds to a demand of this kind, particularly that the memo was also signed by the proposed union of migrant domestic workers. (Al Akhbar, 8 July 2015)