Monitoring the plight of MWDWs in Lebanon continues: new suicide case in Mseitbeh, Beirut

 An Ethiopian migrant domestic worker attempted suicide by hanging herself from her employer’s house at Abraj Beirut located in Salim Salam neighborhood, Beirut, the National News Agency (NNA) reported today. Security forces arrived at the scene and the body of the victim was transferred to Al Zahraa Hospital. L’Orient Le Jour daily briefly reported the news aired on local media, pointing out that official sources indicated that the worker has started work at her employer, a woman in her fifties living alone in the 6th floor in one of the buildings in the compound, only one day before the accident. She didn’t have any supporting documents since she was already working in the country which could not help in identifying her. The newspaper wrote that the labor minister released a statement on the incident requesting wider investigation to this effect to be able to take necessary measures if the employer proves to have any direct or indirect connection to the death and hence, be placed on the ministry’s blacklist. According to our website monitoring similar cases, nine MWDWs have died last year, noting that the above is the first to be recorded this year. (NNA, L’Orient Le Jour, January 22, 2020)