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LEBANON: Migrant Women Dying on the Job
By Dalila Mahdawi
BEIRUT, Nov 21, 2009 (IPS) - October and November have been bloody months for Lebanon's migrant
domestic workers - over the last five weeks nine women have died. Most deaths
have been reported as suicide.
The body of 20-year old Anget R. of Madagascar was found hanging from a
rope at her employer's bedroom door Nov. 11. A newspaper in Madagascar
reported the deaths of two other Malagasy women in October. One, identified
only as Mampionona, was said to have fallen from the balcony of her
employer's house. The other, identified as Vololona, died after reportedly
jumping from the balcony.
Sunit Bholan of Nepal, who was 22, allegedly committed suicide Oct. 8.
Ethiopian Kassaye Etsegenet, 23, died after reportedly jumping from the
seventh floor of her employer's house Oct. 15. She left behind a suicide note
citing personal reasons.
On Oct. 21, 26-year-old Zeditu Kebede Matente of Ethiopia was found dead,
hanging from an olive tree. Two days later 30-year old Saneet Mariam also of
Ethiopia died after allegedly falling from the balcony of her employer's house.
The list goes on: Nepalese national Mina Rokaya, 24, and then Tezeta
Yalmoya of Ethiopia, 26 – who also died, it was said, when she fell from the
balcony.
"It's a national tragedy," Nadim Houry, senior researcher at Human Rights
Watch, tells IPS.
There are an estimated 200,000 women working in Lebanon as live-in
housekeepers, cooks and nannies. Most are from Sri Lanka, Ethiopia and the
Philippines, though increasing numbers are arriving from Nepal, Madagascar
and Bangladesh.
The workers leave their families behind to travel to Lebanon and look after
strangers. Many are treated well by their employers; others are less fortunate.
Once in Lebanon, the women may be confined to their employer's house, and
have their passports confiscated and their salaries withheld, increasing their
sense of isolation. Many women say they are not allowed out of the house, or
get a day off. Complaints of sexual or psychological abuse are not
uncommon.
Lebanon's controversial sponsorship system means that workers are bound to
their employers, and face incarceration if they leave. "It's distressing to note
that suicide for some is the only recourse to release from an abusive
situation," says Azfar Khan, senior migration specialist at the International
Labour Organisation (ILO) regional office for the Arab states.
Police investigations are often inadequate, usually taking into consideration
only the employer's testimony and failing to cross-check it with neighbours
or the worker's friends or family, says Houry. If the woman is lucky enough to
survive a suicide attempt, the police almost never provide her with a
translator, or ask whether she had been abused. Cases where abusive
employers are imprisoned "are the exception, not the rule," says Houry.
The recent spate of deaths is not the first. A HRW study last year found that at
least 95 women had died between Jan. 1, 2007 and Aug. 15, 2008 - a rate of
more than one a week.
Aimee, a freelance domestic worker from Madagascar, has been in Lebanon
for almost 12 years. As a community leader now, she helps workers in
distress by offering a sympathetic ear and advice.
Many of the women she counsels do not receive a regular salary, or have
been abused by their employers or recruitment agency officials. Agencies
"check the women's bags for phone numbers or addresses of their consulate,"
Aimee tells IPS. Any numbers found are destroyed to prevent the woman
seeking help. "How can they ask someone to work so far away from home and
treat them like that?"
Lebanon's growing notoriety as a hotbed for abuse of rights has compelled
the governments of Ethiopia and the Philippines to issue bans on their
nationals working in Lebanon. But this hasn't stemmed the tide of migrants
entering through third countries. Bans in any case only "transfer the problem
from one nationality to another," says Houry, because recruitment agencies
simply look to new countries for women workers.
One reason for suicides is the false expectations recruitment agencies raise
among migrant workers. Many women are led to believe they will work as
nurses or as other professionals. "A lot of these women are recruited in rural
areas - it's like taking someone and plucking them into a totally different
environment," says Houry.
One Nepalese woman he spoke to after she broke her leg trying to escape her
employer's house said "she saw the snow on the mountains and thought if
she could cross the mountain, she'd be in Nepal."
Lebanese labour laws do not cover domestic workers. Without any legal
protection, foreign workers are vulnerable to exploitation.
"The ILO has been pushing for domestic workers to be covered under labour
law - not just in Lebanon but in other countries of the region - so that at
least institutionally they enjoy protection and have the option to have their
grievances addressed in court," says Khan. "They are workers, so why should
the labour law not apply to them?"
Lebanon has signed the International Convention against Torture and other
Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment, but has yet to move
towards signing the Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant
Workers and Members of their Families - a measure that would obligate it to
take protection measures for the migrant community.
But more practical measures the Lebanese could take are to create a national
hotline for distressed workers and a labour inspection force to monitor the
treatment of migrants, says Houry. "More broadly, society has to mobilise.
Not everyone is guilty of ill-treatment, but everyone has to feel responsible.
People need to start speaking out and express that this is unacceptable."
(END)
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