In its issue of today, Al Hayat daily published a special article on migrant women domestic workers and the recurrent incidents of violence, crimes or suicide attempts by many of them. In this respect, Al Hayat interviewed psychiatrist and social researcher, Ahmad Ayyach, who pointed out that MWDWs have their own experience of joy or misery like all human beings. And when they leave their country, he said, they take with their beauty, health conditions and aspirations. Upon arrival to Lebanon, as an example, they are faced with laws that give the sponsor the right to nearly enslave them, Ayyach stated. Some of the MWDWs suffer from mental disturbances, and as such are vulnerable to traumatic setbacks which could manifest in severe psychological disorders against others or against themselves. According to Ayyach, a significant number of MWDWs are shocked to see that reality is very far from what human traffickers in their country and in Lebanon have described to them. In some cases, they are forced to sign contracts in Arabic, which is totally strange to them. On the other hand, Ayyach went on to say, the Lebanese are themselves victims of violence, war, confessional strife and racism, and hence, can only reflect this on others. On the same subject, the president of the National Federation of Worker and Employee Trade Unions in Lebanon (FENASOL), Castro Abdallah, drew attention to the injustices and exploitation practiced against migrant domestic workers in the country, starting from the recruitment agencies ending in the houses of employers. From the recruiting offices’ side, Hadi, owner of one agency, decried the absence of competent monitoring and accountability, blaming the labor ministry first, then the Syndicate of the Owners of Workers Recruiting Agencies, and lastly, civil society associations for their passive and emotional approach to the issue. (Al Hayat, July 20, 2017)
