Migrant domestic workers in Lebanon aggravated 

In its issue of today, Al Akhbar reported that the number of Ethiopian migrant domestic workers staging a sit-in at their country’s embassy is increasing. Ethiopian MWDWs, to recall, are protesting against the consulate’s decision forcing them to pay for the 14-day quarantine( https://bit.ly/2YqbZep). The rise in the number of protestors, Al Akhbar wrote, is not due to the growing number of supporters to those workers, but rather to the fact that many “sponsors” or employers have relinquished their MWDWs and left them to their fate. This came in the wake of the unprecedented surge in the exchange rate of the US dollar and the resulting incurred costs on the workers, and on employers who are now unable to pay their salaries in the dollar. On the subject, Al Akhbar spoke to the lawyer of Human Trafficking Section at Kafa organization, Mohanna Isaac, who stated that if “only 5% of a total of 250,000 MWDWs had to put up with unwanted residency or housing troubles, it will be a humanitarian disaster,” as she said. She warned of the dire consequences in this regard, noting that the calamitous situation is forcing a large number of the migrant domestic workers to choose between staying with their employers and forcibly renewing their contracts or ending up in the streets. This, Isaac maintained, will eventually cause tension between the two parties, leading sometimes to ill-treatment of the workers or to a rise in the incidence of suicide, violence, homelessness or emotional disturbance. (Al Akhbar, June 12, 2020)