Human Rights - Spate of suicides by foreign maids in Lebanon...

Spate of suicides by foreign maids in
Lebanon sheds light on abuse

2 December, 2009 | By Olivia Sterns, CNN

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

10 maids die in seven weeks, all suicides or falls from high
buildings
HRW: abusive work conditions, isolation and lack of
recourse are causes
200,000 foreign maids work in Lebanon -- one for every four
families
Poor regulation of domestic labor and racism conspire
against maids

London, England (CNN) -- A recent spate of suicides by foreign maids in
Lebanon is prompting outrage among human rights groups, who say the
government is doing too little to protect migrant domestic workers from
severe abuse.

Over the past seven weeks at least 10 women have died, either by
hanging themselves or by falling from tall buildings. Six of these cases
have been reported in local media as suicides and four more have been
described as possible work accidents.

An Ethiopian woman working as a cleaner in Lebanon told CNN by
phone that she was sad about the recent suicides, and that she had a
friend who killed herself several years ago, when she too was working as
a live-in maid.

"If the Madame maybe she is very bad, they feel there is no way, no
solution," said the woman who asked not to be identified, referring to
abuse by the female employer. "Everyone has a different case," though
she added.

"We are clearly seeing a high rate of suicide. The two leading causes of
death for migrants is suicide [and] dying while trying to escape from
employers," said Nadim Houry, Senior Researcher for Human Rights
Watch (HRW) in Lebanon.

"This pattern [of abuse] is on going," Houry told CNN, citing "bad
working conditions, isolation and a feeling of helplessness that comes
from lack of recourse," as the sources of desperation that can drive these
women to their deaths.

"It is ridiculous ... this is modern day slavery," said Wissam, a Lebanese
activist who started a blog after he noticed four Ethiopian women
committed suicide within 10 days in October.

"What about the things we don't know? These suicides are just the tip of
the iceberg of the mistreatment of these women," he said.

In August 2008 HRW reported that more than one domestic worker was
dying each week, either from suicide or failed escapes from abusive
employers.

Rampant Abuse

There are more than 200,000 migrant domestic workers in Lebanon --
roughly one per every four families. Overwhelmingly they are women in
their 20s and 30s who come alone from the Philippines, Sri Lanka,
Ethiopia, Indonesia, Nepal and Madagascar, to earn money to support
families back home.

According to HRW, more than one third of foreign domestic workers in
Lebanon are denied time off and more than 50 percent work at least 10
hours per day.

A 2001 International Labor Organization survey of Sri Lankan domestics
in Lebanon found that 88 percent were given no time-off. Among the 70
respondents, nearly 30 percent said they were not given enough food to
eat.

Over the past several years there have been increasing reports of
exploitation documented in the media, including testimonies from
domestic workers about withholding of wages, verbal or physical abuse
and restrictions on free movement. Statistics on abuse are difficult to
find though, because employees are often afraid to complain, prevented
from doing so, or simply don't know how.

"The isolation is key ... Their passports are confiscated and they are
often locked in. They are far from home, and not all of them can contact
their families -- some can once per month," Houry told CNN.

One Nepalese maid who spoke to HRW from her hospital bed, after
jumping from the third floor of her employer's building to escape, said
she had seen snow-capped mountains from the window and thought she
could walk across to find her village. She did not understand that
Lebanon was thousands of miles away from her home in Nepal. "She just
had no idea where she landed," Houry said.

Both charity organizations and foreign embassies in Lebanon say they
have their hands full dealing with runaways and incidents of abuse.

In August, the Philippines Embassy reported that 117 women who had
escaped from maltreatment were sleeping on the embassy floor. The
Catholic relief organization CARITAS also estimated that they have an
average of 40 runaway domestics sleeping in their shelter at any one time.

Roots of the Problem

The abuse faced by migrant domestic workers is a common problem
throughout the Arab Middle East, both because of generally poor labor
regulation and also cultural prejudice.

"The responsibility lies primarily with the state. There are no inspectors
who can check on working conditions. The laws need to be modified,"
Houry said.

"The mistreatment of these women and the absence of any government
protection is not just in Lebanon -- it's in all the Arab countries," Wissam
said.

Neither the Lebanese Labor Ministry, nor General Security, who regulate
migrant workers, could be reached for comment on this article.

Because domestic work is performed in the private sphere, it is not
considered formal labor and is not covered by Lebanon's labor laws.

In January, the government issued a uniform contract for all maids,
which took the critical step of guaranteeing one day off per week and
decent working conditions. Rights activists say that the contracts though
are not being enforced.

Both Houry and Wissam also pointed to social norms of prejudice that
condone abuse. "There is racism against people of poor background and
darker skin," Houry said.

This past summer an HRW investigation found that 17 private beaches,
out of a nation-wide total of 27, do not allow Asian or African domestic
workers to swim, which they argued reflects latent cultural racism in
Lebanon.

"There is a mind set among some that says these women have to work
for me, and if they don't do it, I have to beat them," Wissam said. "This
misconception dehumanizes these women."

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