Shutdown of website documenting assaults against MWDWs

The Matn Judge of Urgent Matters, Ralf Karkabi, issued a decision on April 18 requiring the shutdown of ‘This is Lebanon’ website documenting assaults against migrant domestic workers in the country. Recalling, the developers of said portal, a migrant worker and his wife, have emigrated to Canada. The ruling was reportedly based on a petition submitted by lawyer Ceasar Jbarah (son of Jdeideh mayor in Matn area), after the website published a news heading, ‘Ceasar Jbarah, a violent man’. It included a testimony by a Filipino help who left his house last March, in addition to testimonies by two other MWDWs who worked for him, stating accounts of harassment by the family and delay in payment of salaries. On the above ruling, Al Akhbar spoke to administrators of ‘This is Lebanon’s’ Facebook page who described the judge’s verdict as demeaning to the Lebanese State which “seems terrified by the voices of migrant domestic workers and wants to suppress them.” We want to say that the sponsorship (Kafala) system has become deeply rooted in society, starting from employer families and recruitment agencies up to the higher posts in the government. For her part, Legal Agenda lawyer, Ghida Franjieh, noted that the judge’s decision is part of a trend aimed to prevent MWDWs from uncovering violations against them throughout the period of their work in Lebanon, reducing any chance of accountability for abusing employers. (Al Akhbar, April 26, 2019)