Joint demonstration by Kafa and anti-racism movement to commemorate the victims of the “kafala” system || Newspapers (Arabic)

Kafa and the anti-racism movement organized yesterday a demonstration following the death of Ethiopian migrant worker, Janice Suriano de Jose who threw herself from the 11th floor of her employers’ residence in Zalka (c.f. yesterday’s news on the WEEPortal Ethiopian domestic worker loses her life after “throwing herself” off the 11th floor).  The activists who joined the demonstration declared in their written statement that their initiative aims at reiterating that the exploitative “kafala” system is still being enforced in Lebanon and requires a firm intervention from the state to abolish it especially since this system is responsible for placing migrant women workers in situation of vulnerability to abuse and violence.  Indeed, the “kafala” system practically places women in bonded relations with their employers who confiscate their passports and their freedom and, as a result, violate their basic human rights, and prevents them from seeking help in cases of abuse and exploitation.

Source: Al Akhbar, 14 November 2012