Labor ministry dismisses racism vis-à-vis migrant domestic workers and attacks “Kafa”

The recordings of a video camera candidly installed by Kafa Enough Violence organization two days ago inside one of the supermarkets that promotes a new soap, which supposedly cleans up domestic workers, instigated several reactions by civil and public circles, some of which was critical of the initiative (https://www.facebook.com/kafa.lb/videos/10154312805239337/)”. 

To recall, Kafa action was based on the outcomes of a joint study with the American University of Beirut published last February and which indicated that nearly 27% of Lebanese people consider migrant women domestic workers (MWDWs) as ‘unclean’. As usual, the Labor Ministry immediately denounced in a statement the move by Kafa, alleging that some civil groups “tend to fabricate news that are harmful to the country’s reputation and intentionally manipulate the subject of MWDWs”. “The last of these tricks, the ministry added, was the alleged promotion of the black soap made especially for domestic workers and which is completely demeaning and humiliating”. What is to be noted is that the ministry deliberately disregarded the substance of Kafa awareness campaign by focusing entirely on the nature of the soap per se rather than on the racist message conveyed by merchants to consumers. It went further and queried the Lebanese Industrialists Association (LIA) which also emphasised that this particular soap is available in many countries of the world and is widely used by many people! The LIA joined the ministry in condemning attempts to discredit Lebanese products while cautioning, at the same time, concerned supermarkets against the negative impact of marketing the product in a racist manner because of its detrimental effects on Lebanon’s international reputation. 

As Safir, Al Diyar, An Nahar, June 18 and 20, 2016