Labor minister perseveres to embellish human trafficking (!)

Despite local and national criticism of the “kafala system”, the Minister of Labor perserveres with his attempts to maintain this contemporary trend to enslave migrant women domestic workers.  Within this framework, the meeting yesterday of the ‘National Facilitation Committee’ headed by labor minister Sajaan Azzi on conditions of migrant women domestic workers (MWDW) in Lebanon did not bring any new developments. The only outcome was the announcement by the minister to continue with the newly initiated system to regulate the work of MWDW employment agencies, which, as he claimed, is fair to the employer, the worker and the agency owner. “It aims at rationalizing and stabilizing the profession while giving it an appealing image!” Azzi said, noting that “reform starts with closing down all the illegal or inactive offices and granting permits only to full-fledged establishments and not to one person.” The minister reiterated the main role of his ministry in the protection of MWDWs in accordance with relevant laws in effect. “If the government has repeatedly failed to address broader national issues affecting people, at least it should be there for their everyday grievances,” Azzi maintained.

Al Mustaqbal, Al Diyar, April 6, 2016