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Ethiopian Consulate: MWDW to bear the cost of quarantine after repatriation !

4-6-2020

After the disruption of negotiations with the Ethiopian consulate on the repatriation of migrant workers (https://bit.ly/2A35PsD), a number of Ethiopian MWDWs staged a sit-in in front of their embassy in Hazmieh, Beirut. Demonstrators, including freelance daily workers or those ditched by their employers after failing to pay their salaries, lied down on the street in protest against the consulate’s decision forcing them to pay for the 14-day quarantine in Addis Ababa hotels (USD 770 in total). The amount, according to Al Akhbar daily, is equivalent to a 5-month pay for hard work. Meanwhile, the Ethiopian embassy yesterday suspended work and closed its premises with the assistance of security forces. Recalling, that the consulate relinquished its responsibility after agreeing earlier to pay for the quarantine charges, claiming that Ethiopian authorities could not accommodate the large number of repatriated nationals arriving from abroad. On the subject, the minister of labor, Lamia Yammin, tweeted saying, that, in compliance with an initiative by the labor minister, in coordination the prime minister and the minister of tourism, a hotel has been reserved for Ethiopian MWDWs protesting at the embassy, deploring the scene. On the subject, the head of the Owners of Recruitment Offices, Ali Amin, described the status-quo as disastrous, especially that 90% of the protestors are self-employed and have have lost their jobs to Corona and the economic downturn. Hundreds of workers with similar status, Amin said, are stranded in the homes of their employers awaiting the situation to ease down. He revealed that the majority of employers have reached a settlement with the migrant workers to either cut their wages or pay them in installments. On the other hand, the Directorate General of General Security announced yesterday that Arab nationals or foreigners of the 2nd, 3rd and 4th categories whose residency cards have expired and wish to renew them, can do that through the sponsor or legal representative, pursuant to the measures of reducing overcrowding. The Directorate also said, that it will accept, and exceptionally until 30/6/2020, all concessions and pledges relating to the request of transfer of prearranged kafala (sponsorship). (Al Akhbar, Al Diyar, June 4, 2020)

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