Human rights activists denounced on Saturday an advertisement posted online putting a Nigerian migrant domestic worker up for sale in Lebanon.
The post, advertised on a Facebook page named Buy and Sell in Lebanon, read, “Domestic worker of African citizenship (Nigerian) for sale with a new residency and full legal papers. She’s 30-year-old, active, and very clean.” It also listed the woman’s price as $1,000.
The Facebook post prompted the labor Ministry to issue a circular prohibiting such actions, which lies under the scope of human trafficking.
On Saturday, the General Security agency arrested the man who posted the advertisement, saying the publisher is subject to prosecution before the courts.
“The Justice Ministry already filed a complaint against the man who advertised the selling of the Nigerian domestic worker,” Labor Minister Lamia Yammine told Asharq Al-Awsat.
Mohanna Ishak, a lawyer with the Kafa NGO that assists domestic workers, said this form of advertisement shows that some people deal with those workers as private property, particularly due to the Kafala system, which ties the legal residency of the worker to the contractual relationship with the employer, not respecting the workers’ human rights.
“Therefore, some employers believe they have the right to sell their domestic workers for any reason,” Ishak told Asharq Al-Awsat.
However, the Facebook post reveals that a large number of Lebanese are incapable anymore of paying their domestic workers due to the economic crisis in the country, the sharp depreciation of the Lebanese pound on the unofficial market, and the high unemployment rate.
Before the government closed the airport as part of the measures taken to contain the COVID-19 pandemic, a large number of domestic workers were leaving the country after employers insisted on paying their salaries in the local currency.
“This is a newly reported case. It alarms of many problems. We receive on daily basis a large number of requests from residents unable to pay the salaries of their domestic workers,” the Labor Minister said.
Yammine uncovered that she is coordinating with both the Foreign and Public Works ministers to facilitate the departure of workers wishing to return home.
Two weeks ago, Amnesty International called on the Lebanese government to announce a set of immediate measures to protect migrant domestic workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ishak said that the current situation leads to several problems in the absence of radical solutions, particularly as domestic workers are trapped without salaries, protection, or guarantees.
