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ARTICLE SUMMARY<\/p>\n
Lebanon’s 250,000-plus domestic migrant workers are being hit hardest by the ongoing war with Israel, as shelters turn them away, employers withhold wages, and bombing forces displacement. The piece traces this to Article Seven of Lebanon’s labour law, which exempts domestic workers from standard protections and props up the Kafala sponsorship system \u2014 leaving employers free to confiscate passports, restrict movement, and withhold wages with little oversight. Through Kaluwa, a Kenyan worker who fled an abusive employer, and testimony from Caritas and KAFA, the article shows how war has deepened this exploitation, while also highlighting how ethnicity shapes treatment and how workers organise to support each other.<\/p>\n
Three months later, Kaluwa left, unwilling to suffer more abuse. But her employer had illegally seized her passport, so leaving made her undocumented. She found work with another family, then fled again after further abuse. She now lives in a shelter for trafficking victims, awaiting the papers that will let her return to Kenya.<\/p>\n
Kafala: The Basics <\/p>\n
To stay in Lebanon, Kaluwa and other foreigners must rely on a sponsorship system<\/a> in which a person or organisation agrees to hire and become legally responsible for them. For domestic migrant workers, in addition to this requirement, employers must provide<\/a> housing, food, clothing, and other necessities.<\/p>\n Lebanese households began hiring migrant domestic workers after the civil war, as lingering sectarian tensions<\/a> discouraged them from hiring locally, and they increasingly looked overseas<\/a> instead. Today, over 250,000<\/a> workers from across Africa and Asia work in Lebanese homes, yet Article Seven of Lebanese labour law<\/a> exempts \u2018domestic servants employed in private houses\u2019 from the rights granted to all other workers \u2014 leaving this sponsorship system, known as Kafala<\/a>, to facilitate mistreatment and abuse.<\/p>\n Power Dynamics Create Conflict<\/p>\n Domestic migrant workers are bound to their employers, since both live and work under the same roof \u2014 a power imbalance the United Nations<\/a> likens to the dynamics of an abusive relationship, in which \u2018the abuser exerts power and control over the victim.\u2019<\/p>\n In Kafala, employers hold an iron grip over workers who live under their roof. Not all are abusive, but nearly all can control movement, hours and duties with minimal oversight, since Article Seven\u2019s<\/a> denial of minimum wage, overtime pay and social security leaves little recourse. Domestic migrant workers are restricted<\/a> from leaving a job without their employer\u2019s consent, and 94.3 per cent<\/a> of employers illegally confiscate<\/a> passports, making exit harder still.<\/p>\n Caritas, an organisation that works with domestic migrant workers and others who have fallen victim to human trafficking, expressed the dilemma facing domestic migrant workers living in an abusive situation: \u2018Shall I be undocumented or illegal, or shall I continue and be abused?\u2019 <\/p>\n The Impact of the War <\/p>\n \u2018They were already in crisis with their living conditions and working conditions, and [are now] trapped again in an additional crisis\u2019, Caritas told FairPlanet. \u2018We have been witnessing the increase of mental health cases because of bombing and so on. They were afraid, so they were leaving the homes of employers to come to our shelter because they needed peace and safe spaces.\u2019 <\/p>\n Countrywide crises have historically had an outsized impact on domestic migrant workers in Lebanon. A 2021 report from the UN<\/a> found that during periods of instability, more migrants report abusive conditions, pay cuts and reduced mobility. Caritas told FairPlanet that some employers, hit by revenue losses from the war, have cut wages.<\/p>\n Although both Lebanese nationals and migrants have been displaced from the south, KAFA<\/a> told FairPlanet that some migrants have been denied access to government-run shelters despite the Lebanese government\u2019s<\/a> promise to admit them. Other domestic workers have been trapped beneath the bombing while employers sought help from NGOs and the government. Since the war between Hezbollah and Israel began on 7 October 2023, Caritas has documented \u2018cases [of domestic migrant workers] trapped in homes in Nabatieh or Bint Jebel\u2019, on the Israeli border. \u2018We can\u2019t tell them to go outside, with the bombs.\u2019 UN agencies, the Red Cross and Caritas\u2019s own emergency response unit have all deployed to rescue those trapped on the front lines.<\/p>\n The war is also adversely affecting Kaluwa\u2019s attempt to return to Kenya. According to Caritas, when trying to secure papers for victims of Kafala to leave \u2018before the war, it used to take, let’s say, two months. Now, it’s taking six months.\u2019 <\/p>\n Different ethnicity, different treatment<\/p>\n Adriana, a Filipino woman living in Achrafieh, Beirut, came to Lebanon three years ago to work as a maid on her aunt\u2019s recommendation. She earns a good salary, says her host family treats her well, and enjoys hiking in Lebanon\u2019s countryside in her time off.<\/p>\n That experience points to a wider pattern: migrants appear to be treated differently by ethnicity. Daryn Howland<\/a> of SOAS University of London says some Lebanese see workers from poorer countries as \u2018unworthy of the same rights as the Lebanese or Westerners\u2019, describing \u2018an ascending scale of human value based on nationality.\u2019 Among domestic workers, Filipinos sit atop this hierarchy<\/a>, gaining higher pay and, Adriana\u2019s experience suggests, better treatment.<\/p>\n Although her experience is largely positive, Adriana told FairPlanet that some Lebanese treat domestic workers poorly, calling her and others names such as \u2018sharmoota\u2019 (bitch).<\/p>\n It is worth noting, though, that a study by KAFA<\/a> found 65 per cent of domestic migrant workers in Lebanon report forced labour and servitude \u2014 meaning that even if Adriana has avoided mistreatment, she is among the minority.<\/p>\n \u2018They\u2019re not just\u2026 passive victims\u2019 <\/p>\n Despite this unjust system, many migrants have found ways to support each other. KAFA<\/a> told FairPlanet that community gatherings, sports and intra-community support groups help workers push back against Kafala\u2019s constraints. Ethiopian domestic workers, for instance, created Mesewat<\/a>, a grassroots organisation that advocates for workers\u2019 rights and holds events for important holidays<\/a> such as the Ethiopian New Year and Christmas.<\/p>\n Others have sought out psychosocial support. Kaluwa says the counselling she has received has helped ease some of her stress.<\/p>\n Why Does Kafala Still Exist?<\/p>\n Lebanon has tried, as recently as 2022<\/a>, to pass laws governing the employment of domestic workers, but none have been adopted \u2014 leaving the door open to further trafficking.<\/p>\n Experts at KAFA believe that Kafala persists because of the advantages held by employers; \u2018When someone is benefiting from a certain system, it\u2019s not going to go away very easily.\u2019 <\/p>\n Attitudes are shifting, though. \u2018The younger generation is more rights-oriented,\u2019 KAFA says, and \u2018the intensity of abuse… has not been as frequently recalled.\u2019 Practices such as monitoring workers\u2019 outside communication and physical abuse, KAFA says, are less common today than in the past.<\/p>\n Kafala\u2019s effects are felt by employers too. Since domestic workers are forced to live with their employers, complications between the two sides \u2014 compounded by a lack of clear rules<\/a> governing the practice \u2014 are more likely to escalate. As Caritas puts it, \u2018Kafala is imprisoning both migrant workers and employers.\u2019<\/p>\n Improving the system requires urgent action<\/p>\n Removing domestic workers\u2019 exemption from Article Seven of Lebanon\u2019s labour law is essential to protecting them, extending the same minimum wage and working-hour protections other workers already have. But Lebanon\u2019s weak governance, combined with the ongoing war, makes short-term legal change unlikely.<\/p>\n Change is still possible at the social level, though. Elevating the voices of domestic workers can keep improving their treatment \u2014 something already under way, KAFA says, thanks to \u2018years of advocacy and… awareness raising.\u2019 Educating the public can push sponsors to treat workers better while increasing the stigma around those who abuse them.<\/p>\n Teaching sponsors about the rights of domestic workers also reduces abuse, according to the International Labour Organization<\/a>: many are simply unfamiliar with the rules, including contract length and workers\u2019 specific entitlements. Among sponsors who believe Kafala allows them to lock a worker inside the house, 56.3 per cent<\/a> admit doing so; among those who know the law forbids it, that falls to 37.1 per cent<\/a> \u2014 evidence that knowledge of the law measurably improves domestic workers\u2019 lives.<\/p>\n The horrors of Kafala are easy to see, and the system looks set to remain in place for now. But as pressure builds on the government and social attitudes shift, hope for its end persists.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah continues, Lebanon\u2019s mistreated domestic migrant workers are being disproportionately affected; Shelters…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":612926,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[277416,277415,1155,10541,85,46,277413,277414,88,23310,43,4586],"class_list":["post-612925","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-engage","tag-fairplanet","tag-human-rights","tag-humanity","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-kafala-system","tag-labor-exploitation","tag-lebanon","tag-migrant-workers","tag-news","tag-resilience"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/612925","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=612925"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/612925\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/612926"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=612925"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=612925"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=612925"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}