A woman judge creates a new criminal offense entitled “fleeing work”

News about migrant women domestic workers fleeing their employers and their abusive practices abound in the local newspapers to the extent that they have become regular and are no longer provoking any legal debate, particularly since the women migrant worker often end up forcibly returning to their employers or being deported to their home countries as per their contractual agreement with the employment offices. Such inhuman practices, regretfully, are in full alignment with the framework of the current “kafala (sponsorship)” system which protects the rights of employers and employment offices, and in the absence of a comprehensive and inclusive labor law.
However, and only two months ago, a woman judge ruled against a Kenyan migrant woman domestic worker and asked for a two months prison sentence and imposing on her a penalty payment of LBP 600,000 after the women worker allegedly fled her employer.  The judge in question created a new felony and named it “fleeing from work” thus creating a legal precedent that largely protects slavery and the current exploitative practices.
The Legal Agenda published in its latest issue an article on this matter entitled: “She left her employer for a few hours and was returned back: what crime? What punishment? What justice?”.  The article is a study of this unprecedented verdict and its technical and legal irregularities whilst pointing out to the violation of the rights of the worker, the contradictions in the different narratives and the resulting distortion of facts. For more on this case please click this link.
Source: Al-Akhbar 14 October 2013