Euro-Med Monitor revealed, in a statement issued Friday, heinous violations perpetuated by Lebanon’s kafala system.
The statement came after a video showing a Lebanese man assaulting a domestic worker went viral on social media.
The incident is only the tip of the iceberg of wide, unreported violations perpetuated by the kafala system. It further opens the door to slavery-like abuses, the statement reads.
In a video circulating on social media, the man was dragging the woman by her hair and hitting her. He even ignored her screams and distress calls. Later, the man turned out to be her employer under the infamous kafala system.
According to Lebanese media, the Appellate Prosecution in the Mount Lebanon Governorate ordered the release of the man. The worker did not file a complaint against him and said he did not mistreat her.
It is feared that the employer may have pressured the worker and forced her to drop the suit.
Tarik Hajjar, legal researcher at Euro-Med Monitor, said that in such cases, the embassy of the worker’s country of origin and Lebanese Ministry of Labor should guarantee protection to the worker so that she says what really happened to her away from any pressures from her employer.
Statistics about Kafala System
Thousands of domestic workers face abuse and ill-treatment in Lebanon due to the kafala system, which provides fertile ground for violence against workers.
Over the past years, the system has placed thousands of domestic workers in forced-labor-like working conditions and legitimized various inhumane practices, such as forcing workers to live in the employer’s house, not specifying working hours, preventing the worker from leaving the house, and not obtaining weekly or annual leaves.
This system has also given employers great control over workers who often find themselves forced to accept unfair working conditions that deprive them of any tools that help them preserve and obtain their rights in cases of conflict or exploitation. Additionally, any attempt to escape from the employer’s house makes them vulnerable to abuse, deprivation of rights, and deportation.
More than 250,000 migrant workers are under the kafala system in Lebanon. It links their legal status with their employers, making them easy prey for various types of violations.
