Post date: Apr 05, 2012 11:22:18 AM
BEIRUT, LEBANON (REUTERS) - Ethiopian workers living in Lebanon attend a service at an orthodox church in Beirut. The mood is sombre as they pray in low tones remembering one of their own, who recently died in the country under controversial circumstances.
Video footage showing Ethiopian domestic worker Alem Dechasa being abused outside her country's consulate in Beirut and her subsequent suicide have brought the issue of workers' treatment to the forefront of the debate in Lebanon, putting pressure on the government to approve a new law for foreign workers.
The death of 33-year-old Alem Dechasa, an Ethiopian domestic worker, has sparked debate about the security of migrant workers here.
Tragic tales of domestic worker abuse in Lebanon are common, but video footage showing the Ethiopian maid brutally dragged through the street just days before she was found hanged from her bed sheets has rattled Lebanon's conscience.
In Lebanon, migrant workers do not work under labour laws but are sponsored to live in the country by their employers, who apply personally for residency permits. Recruitment agencies with offices abroad import the women, but many operate with no legal obligation towards the maids.
KAFA, a Lebanese charity aimed at preventing violence against women, says the problem of the sponsorship system is that it ties a worker to her employer and creates a vulnerability for the workers and a corresponding burden on the employers.
The sponsorship system, means the domestic workers cannot change jobs unless their employer authorizes their release. Rola Abimourched, is a project Coordinator at KAFA.
"We see in that case a reflection of the whole bigger picture. In Lebanon there is a lack of protection; domestic workers should be under the labour law. There is also the problem of the sponsorship system because it doesn't give the worker a chance to go out, meaning to pursue her rights, the employer is responsible for her presence in Lebanon," she told Reuters.
On February 24, the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation International channel (LBC) released a video, filmed by an unidentified bystander, of Dechasa lying in the bushes outside the Ethiopian consulate, crying "no, no, no."
A Lebanese man, later identified by the station as Ali Mahfouz, snatches her off the ground and tries to brutally force her into a car. Dechasa screams and squirms, refusing to enter. Mahfouz grabs the Ethiopian by her hair.
Ethiopian Consul, Asaminew Debelie Bonssa said only minutes earlier he had been approached by Mahfouz, the brother of the head of the recruiting agency that brought Dechasa to Lebanon, who took her to the consulate, to complain about a domestic dispute, claiming she was mentally ill and needed to be deported.
Bonssa said he told Mahfouz, that Dechasa needed medical treatment and that Mahfouz agreed to take her to the hospital and left the building. Then, he said, they heard a loud voice and realized something happened outside his second-floor window.
Bonssa said he called the police, who took Mahfouz into custody. He said he briefed the police about the attack and urged them to take her to hospital.
"We informed him (the policeman), I by myself went there, I explained to him that this incident is unacceptable and that as far as the government of this country has given her a visa and in whatever she is, the government has to take the responsibility and so he agreed to take her to the hospital and then and also to take measures against this person (Mahfouz) and so it was that unexpected incident which have already saddened everybody and you know Lebanese people are good people as far as I know," said Bonssa.
The Consul visited Dechasa in hospital. She was anxious, he said, she told him that she could not pay a debt to the recruitment agency that brought her to Lebanon. Her husband had married another woman and she had taken out a dodgy loan to pay her debts.
Four days later, doctors told the consul she had committed suicide.
Bonssa said that beatings of domestic workers are not rare and are regularly reported to him.
Dechasa's case is by no means isolated - Human Rights Watch says, on average, one domestic worker a week in Lebanon either kills herself or falls from a high building to her death.
Efforts to introduce new labour laws have failed to gain momentum. Two labour ministers have proposed measures but changes in government posts and apathy have sidelined the issue.
But the Dechasa case is different. Her abuse was filmed and caused a public outcry, offering a chance to deal with the mistreatment of housemaids here.
The European Union and rights groups urged the country to change its laws to tackle discrimination against migrant workers.
Cabinet called an investigation into the case after the footage of her mistreatment was shown on television and Justice Minister Shakib Qortbawi said that the Justice and Labour ministries held an emergency meeting on the issue.
There is no minimum wage and maids can work long hours, 365 days a year without a break.
While many Lebanese respect their maids as family, many domestic workers say they are locked in the house and have their passports confiscated.
Workers lucky enough to get a few hours off on a Sunday can usually be seen in Beirut's shopping district of Hamra, catching up with friends.
"We just want to tell to some of the employers here to treat us very well because when they treat us very well we give them a good time, but... if they treat us very bad of course we have to return bad manners to them," said Jean Puno, foreign worker from the Philippines.
Other workers complain about the way some of the migrant workers are generally treated by their employers.
"I think the case that was happened to the Ethiopian, she didn't do that, there is always the reason why the employee made (her) to run away for example, to commit suicide and there's always a reason for that because of them (being) maltreated from the employers," said Kevin Ross, a Filipino migrant worker.
The video publication and Dechasa's suicide have highlighted the issue of workers' treatment in Lebanon and put pressure on the government to approve a new law for foreign workers.
The Labour Ministry says there are almost 200,000 domestic workers in Lebanon many of whom are women from Asia and Sub Saharan Africa working in households across the country.