The Ministry of Labor introduces new measures to protect migrant women domestic workers

The Arabic Network for Immigrant Rights organised yesterday a conference on “Promoting Migrant Domestic Workers' Rights by Addressing the Migration Continuum between Origin Country and Lebanon” during which the Minister of Labor, Selim Jreissati, declared that his Ministry has introduced a number of new measures aiming to regulate the process of migration of foreign domestic workers.  These new measures include: the ratification of bilateral conventions with host countries, developing a guidebook in collaboration with the ILO, and the setting up of a national steering committee of 30 partners and stakeholders from relevant Ministries, the ILO, NGOs, employers and employees.  Jreissati also noted that his Ministry is currently working o n a new law for migrant workers and where the term “sponsor” will be replaced by “employer”.  The Ministry is also developing a new standard and certified contract which will be available in Arabic, French and English. Furthermore and at a later stage, the national language of the sending countries will be included so that migrant workers will be able to read the content of their contract before signing it.
Source: Al-Akhbar, Al-Diyar 28 January 2014