Foreign workers demonstrate in Lebanon on May Day for rights

Beirut - Dozens of foreign workers demonstrated in Beirut Saturdayto protest against their abuse and lack of labor rights while working in Lebanon.

There are an estimated 200,000 foreign workers, many employed as home helps, in Lebanon who mainly hail from the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Ethiopia.

"We are protesting today to show the Lebanese and the world that we lack the minimum labor rights while working in Lebanon," a Filipino house maid told the German News Agency, dpa.

Carrying placards that read "We are entitled to a day off," the demonstrators marched silently through Beirut.

A report for Human Rights Watch (HRW) this year highlighted the poor treatment of foreign domestic workers in Saudi Arabia, Lebanon and Jordan, where they face "exploitation and abuse by employers, including excessive work hours, non-payment of wages and restrictions on their liberty."

"When we come to Lebanon our employer takes away our passport and we become his slave ... no day off once a week, bad treatment, abuse and whatever you can think of," Chandra a house maid from Sri Lanka told dpa.

Nadim Houry, HRW senior researcher in Beirut, estimated that the treatment of domestic workers in Lebanon has led some to commit suicide.

"One domestic worker commits suicide in Lebanon every week," Houry told dpa.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/321526,foreign-workers-demonstrate-in-lebanon-on-may-day-for-rights.html.