Ministry of Labor walk out from a conference on migrant workers in Lebanon

According to a study done by the ILO and launched yesterday on the rights of migrant workers and the care economy in Lebanon, migrant workers in Lebanon suffer from withholding their salaries, restrictions on mobility and on personal life, in addition to physical and moral violence, intimidation and deception.  The study confirms findings of other researches in the field and goes further to say that a form of slavery is taking place in Arab countries notably in Lebanon and Jordan.  The study notes that migrant workers are in large numbers in Lebanon and the majority are men (1,019 women compared to 181 men).  The same source says that 42% of women migrants in Lebanon work 8 hours a day while 37% work between 8 to 10 hours, 8% work between 10 to 12 hours and 14% work between 12 to 14 hours a day.  Other findings include the fact that many employers refuse to allow women workers to take a day off every week and women migrant workers are not treated decently within households.  Indeed, 14% are forced to live in living rooms, while 5% sleep in the kitchen, 4% in children's room and 4% on the balcony!  Other main problems facing migrant workers is the absence of any form of guarantors of their rights which makes them vulnerable to exploitation and even slavery.  Regarding salaries, several violations have been noted as the study shows that 35% of migrant women workers receive between USD 150 to 199 monthly, while 42% receuve between USD 200 and 299 monthly and 14% receive between USD 300 and 399 monthly.  To be noted that the representative of the Ministry of Labor, Jumana Haymur, was present during the presentation of the study and withdrew from the room saying that the Ministry is not concerned by what is being said and that there are more important priorities in Lebanon notably the problem of Syrian refugees. On the other hand, the Ministry of Labour issued a new memo on September 14th freezing the operation of several employment agencies.  The Ministry noted that this new, and third batch of employment offices to be halted include Munir association for trade and public services,  Al Junub association, Tala Tours, Al Raed Association for public services, (As Safir and Al Mustaqbal, 15 and 20 September 2016)

For more about the report in Arabic, please check: http://m.assafir.com/Article/176/510620