Domestic workers resisting slavery in Lebanon
Lebanon, a country with a population of six million, currently has more than 250,000 migrant domestic workers. As the Lebanese sponsor is key to the foreign worker being allowed to stay and work in the country, the control the former can exert over the latter is inordinate.
While Lebanese families have grown increasingly reliant on this foreign workforce, overwhelmingly composed of women, the country’s employment legislation has remained purposely unregulated, allowing the exploitative system of sponsorship known as kafala to prevail.
Reports by Amnesty and Human Rights Watch have shown that abuse toward this workforce is endemic, with a shocking death rate of two domestic workers per week.
For years local activists and solidarity organisations have been protesting against these conditions with demonstrations, general strikes and street rallies, but have so far failed to guarantee concrete action against the abuse.
This is Lebanon, a small volunteer based organisation based in Canada, came up with a new tactic to achieve justice: naming and shaming abusive employers on social media. At first this tactic was simply ignored by employers. But as This is Lebanon’s Facebook page grew in popularity, it has become more effective.
According to the organisation’s founder Dipendra Uprety, himself a former migrant worker in Lebanon, This is Lebanon would have no reason to exist if migrant workers were able to genuinely access the country’s judicial system.
With This is Lebanon’s increasing publicity, a result of their continuing success, has come criticism from segments of the Lebanese public, accusing them of unjustly defaming employers as well as damaging the reputation of the country. Despite their controversial tactics, they are one of the few groups who have managed to bring tangible change to the lives of migrant domestic workers while raising awareness within Lebanese society of the injustices implied in the kafala system. (Source: New Internationalist)
