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Yes, I am referring to the treatment these workers are subjected too that reminds me of history class in the states when I used to read about slavery.
Lebanon has modern day slavery justified through contracts and cultural prejudice.
These workers are bought, paid for, passports confiscated, wages withheld, worked from 6am till midnight, denied food, exploited mentally, physically, and sexually.
However when you have visitors over, you tell them she is like your sister.
The mentality in the Lebanese society, most likely worse in other societies within the GCC & Levant region, has this misconception that these humans are simply a piece of property and you are the 'holier than thou' slave owner.
It's no wonder the Philippines has again placed a ban on exporting foreign workers to Lebanon because its citizens have no protection here.
In 2009, migrant domestic workers were granted some basic rights, such as one day off a week, however, 80% of them are not aware of this or are simply not allowed to have it.
In addition, they are contracted with no clauses about maximum working hours, minimum wages and vacations; this gives the owner no limits to the rules they can impose on the worker and no repercussions.
Even guiltier than the owners is the Lebanese government for favoritism towards the Lebanese employer by not implementing any rules to protect or defend these foreign workers, similar to the way Israel is lenient to its soldiers versus Palestinians.
But we cannot blame the government for the poor labor regulations or anything for that matter because they are too busy doing nothing about other issues affecting us (i.
e.
electricity, water shortages, traffic, preserving heritage, pollution, corruption, Palestinian refugees, just to name a few).
What they are busy doing is fighting an endless battle of intimidating words with each other while Israel and other countries sit back and laugh since the Lebanese government is basically doing the dirty work for them.
I guess in some weird twist of irony, Lebanon is the maid.
How can we expect to get along with anyone else when we cannot even get along with ourselves? That's another article.
Foreign governments have encouraged the export of domestic workers to our countries since it is the largest source of foreign revenue for their country.
Lebanon has an estimated 200,000 migrant workers; not all are here legally.
Their earnings amount to billions of dollars sent home annually and that is exactly why they are here; to do a job, to make money and to send it back to their families.
They leave their husbands and children in hopes to make a better life for them with a relatively higher salary from here.
They expect to do the work, have breaks to eat, maybe even a day off and get paid for it; these are the same standards we expect everyday when most of us go to the office.
They are not here to clean your two-bedroom apartment daily from 6am-midnight that just never seems to be clean enough for your standards.
They are not here to wait on their salary when it is convenient for you to pay it.
They will make mistakes as all humans do and that does not give you the right to beat them or take your life's frustrations out on them.
The inhumane treatment towards these workers and the slow response from the Lebanese Government, Parliament, General Security, Ministries of Labor, Interior and Justice are leading to your maids running away or worse falling off of balconies, conveniently being labeled as suicides.
Why does it have to get to this point? They agreed to come here to do a job and get paid for it, therefore, you should hold your end of the deal and pay them for the job they do; withholding the abuse, not the wages.
If nobody can do the job better than you, then maybe you should do it yourself.
By Diana Nemeh
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