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Racist rulings against migrant domestic women workers
28-11-2018
In its issue of November 26, Al Akhbar daily wrote about racial discrimination by the Lebanese Judiciary against migrant domestic workers. It cited samples of final verdicts issued by judges against MWDWs, such as: “We condemn the defendant, born in 1983, African national (…)”; “We order the referral of 38 Sri Lankans of the Bangladeshi nationality (…)”. The newspaper highlighted two main issues pertaining to the above rulings. The first is related to the terminology still used by the Judiciary, and the second is the pre-sentencing and conviction forms. Those patterns used by judges in similar cases lack basic information like the name and nationality, which are often replaced by the case number or the date of birth of the migrant worker. The nationality in most cases is “African”, Al Akhbar noted. Lawyer Qassem Karim said that upon protesting to one of the judges over the pre-printed versions of verdicts, which are full of racist vocabulary, the judge answered him, “it is work pressure”. The newspaper related stories of the suffering of migrant domestic workers, mentioning Juliana who returned penniless to her country after six years of work in Lebanon. Juliana, who lived in a confined cellar, isolated from the outside world and from the family she worked for, was paid for 11 months only, Al Akhbar wrote. She said she put up with all this torment hopeful of seeing her kids one day. After a while, she started to suffer physical and mental complications but was never treated, which forced her female employer to return her to her country. On the other hand, the National News Agency reported that Ethiopian migrant worker, Gitta, (25) was found hanging after being strangled with a scarf at the house of her employer in Zawtar Sharqiyeh. The employer is currently in Turkey for business. Security forces arrived at the scene for investigation. (AL Akhbar, L’Orient Le Jour, November 26, 28, 2018)
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