Domestic Workers in Lebanon Speak Out

Sujana Rana, a Nepalese domestic worker, shares her experience at a community center in Beirut.

The Wall Street Journal, By Mona Hammoud and Nour Malas
In any other context, this set of people would not be mingling in Beirut: artists, academics, and domestic workers. On a recent evening, all gathered at a community center to share research and experiences on an issue–domestic workers’ rights–not otherwise addressed much in Lebanese circles.
“I want to try and help our sisters who don’t sleep, don’t eat, and are afraid,” said Sujana Rana, a member of a Nepalese domestic workers group. “We leave our homes, our families to come to Lebanon,” she said with a quivering voice, “and work so hard to

Domestic worker dies in hospital from stab wound

The Daily Star, January 31, 2013 -- Initial Arabic press brief published on this blog: خادمة طعنت مخدومتها قبل ان تنتحر

BEIRUT: A Nepalese domestic worker died in hospital Tuesday evening after suffering a stab wound to the stomach that was apparently self-inflicted, security sources told The Daily Star.

The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that 28-year-old Sina Bell died shortly after admission to St. George Hospital in Ajaltoun, Kersouan at around 7 p.m.

Her 73-year-old employer, Mona al-Shamali,

خادمة طعنت مخدومتها قبل ان تنتحر

احضرت  الى مستشفى السان جورج في عجلتون الخادمة النيبالية سينا بال - مواليد 1975، وهي مصابة بطعنة سكين في بطنها وما لبثت ان فارقت الحياة، فيما نقلت مخدومتها اللبنانية منى الشمالي - مواليد 1940، مصابة بدورها بطعنة سكين لكن في يدها، وهي موضع عناية طبية.

ومن التحقيقات التي اجريت مع الشمالي تبين ان النيبالية كانت في حال غضب شديد فسددت الى مخدومتها طعنة وعادت لتطعن نفسها بالسكين في بطنها وتبين ان البصمات المتروكة على المدية تطابقت مع بصمات الخادمة.

A Nepalese domestic worker (DOB 1975) stabbed her female employer (DOB 1940) with a knife before committing suicide, in Ajaltoun, North Lebanon.

Migrant domestic workers develop survival techniques amid harsh conditions

Not all domestic workers are allowed outside their employers’ homes and when they are it’s often to perform tiring duties.

February 11, 2012, By Annie Slemrod, The Daily Star

BEIRUT: Last week, an Ethiopian domestic worker named Paltishi Hendor was found hanging by women’s socks in her employer’s house in Ghazir, Kesrouan. Last month, the U.K.’s Guardian newspaper reported on Lila Aacharya, a Nepalese woman who was trafficked into Lebanon and found dangling out of a balcony window near Beirut.

And in January alone, three Nepalese domestic workers committed suicide, according to a source at the Nepalese Consulate.

Despite their terrible frequency, the details of these deaths often remain unreported – except in Aacharya’s case, whose ordeal caused a

Nepali suicide last Sunday in Ashrafieh

Elnashra.com website reported last Sunday evening that, according to security sources, a Nepalese domestic worker hung herself in her employer's house in Ashrafieh. Her employers discovered the body hanging on the kitchen balcony. The Lebanese Red Cross and security forces headed to the location to investigate.

This news came just one day before the Guardian published a report about Lila, a Nepalese who was trafficked into slavery and committed suicide in Lebanon.

الأحد 29 كانون الثاني 2012 - كشف مصدر امني لـ"النشرة" ان عاملة من الجنسية النيبالية أقدمت على شنق نفسها في الأشرفية. وفي التفاصيل انه عند وصول اصحاب المنزل وفتح باب بيتهم في منطقة الأشرفية، فوجئوا برؤية الخادمة منتحرة حيث علُقت نفسها على شرفة المطبخ. وعلى الفور توجه الصليب الأحمر والقوى الأمنية والادلة الجنائية الى المكان للتحقيق مع اصحاب الشقة.

Guardian Video: Beirut death of Nepalese migrant worker Lila

Lila Aacharya left Nepal hoping to make a better life for her two young daughters. Two months later her body was flown home. Lila's case exposes the toll of human trafficking - from her attempt to escape the poverty of her village in the Himalayan foothills to her exploitation and death as a domestic worker in an upmarket apartment in Beirut.

VIDEO by Pete Pattisson, guardian.co.uk, Monday 30 January 2012

CNN: Abuse of domestic workers in #Lebanon is so common some nations are banning citizens from taking jobs

This CNN report is very damaging for Lebanon. But who in the Lebanese government really cares?? Added On November 15, 2011 on CNN. According to Nadim Houry, Ethiopian ambassador had said "I'm no longer running an embassy here. I'm running a morgue".

"Between 2008 and 2010, 15 Nepalese maids working in Lebanon committed suicide"

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=56806

(...)


"Between 2008 and 2010, 15 Nepalese maids working in Lebanon committed suicide," says Sthaneshwar Devkota, executive director at the state-run Foreign Employment Promotion Board. "Being mostly illiterate and unaware, they are easily duped. For instance, though they get free visas, many agencies swindle them."

"The more dangerous ruse is making them go though India. If their documents are not in order or they are being lured to banned destinations like Lebanon, immigration authorities at Kathmandu airport will spot the fraud. So they are made to go to India first. It increases the danger of the women being forced into the flesh trade."

(...)

الإساءة إلى العاملات الأجنبيات في لبنان مستمرة بلا قانون يجرّمها وينظّم المهنة: قصصٌ من يومياتهن مع "الكفيل" و"المخدوم" وصولاً إلى اللا - تحقيق في جرائم القتل!

حيواتهن بيننا تنمو على حافة الموت ظلماً (فادي أبو غليوم)

جريدة السفير، 2 آب 2011، نبيل المقدم
لم يكن قد مضى أكثر من ستة أشهر على مباشرة «كلارا» العمل في منزل مخدومها في غزير، في قضاء كسروان، عندما قررت الهروب بـ»أي ثمن». انتظرت الصبية الفيليبينية خلود سكان المنزل الى النوم، ورمت بنفسها من الطابق الثاني. وعلى الرغم من التواء ساقها، أكملت «كلارا» فرارها، مستقلة سيارة أجرة إلى بيروت.
تقول «كلارا» لـ»السفير» إن عملها «كان يبدأ عند السادسة صباحاً، ويمتد حتى منتصف الليل». ولم تحصل خلال ستة أشهر أمضتها في العمل على راتبها كاملاً سوى مرة واحدة، ولكنها «حظيت» بالكثير من «الصفع والركل من صاحب المنزل وزوجته بسبب مطالبتها بأجرها». طبعاً، كانت «كلارا» تنام في المطبخ، مفتقدةً أي خصوصية حياتية.
يسلّم مسؤولون رسميون وحقوقيون وناشطون في مجال حماية الفئات المهمشة، ومن ضمنها العاملات في المنازل، بأن انتهاك حقوقهم يشكل ظاهرة مقلقة في لبنان، لناحية تعرّضهم لـ»باقة» كبيرة من الإساءات الجنسية والاقتصادية والنفسية والجسدية.
وفي ظل استثنائهن من قانون العمل اللبناني،

Nepalese perfornance in Hamra, Beirut, during a fundraiser for the Nepalese New Year

During a fundraising party on 16 April 2011 at T-marbouta, Hamra, Beirut, in support of the Non-Resident Nepali Association's 17th April celebration for Nepalese New Year. Organized by the Migrant Worker task Force. Mostly attended by Lebanese, and the Nepalese food was good!!

The Guardian Video Documentary: Nepali slaves in the Middle East

Pete Pattison investigates the trafficking of people escaping poverty and conflict in Nepal. Unscrupulous agents take huge sums of money from them for work abroad then consign them to slavery and appalling conditions in the Middle East. Many are abused by their employers and some are killed at the hands of agents.
The video starts with the images of the body of a Nepalese repatriated from... LEBANON.
Tuesday 12 April 2011. Link to the video: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2011/apr/12/nepali-slaves-united-arab-emirates-video

Lebanese society is deeply racist and must tackle discrimination, report says

By Simona Sikimic, Daily Star staff, Tuesday, March 22, 2011

BEIRUT: An EU-funded report released Monday has criticized Lebanese society for rampant racism perpetrated against an estimated 1 million migrant workers in the country and upheld by gaps and loopholes in national law.

“There is an urgent need for developing meaningful strategies to address racist harassment, stereotyping and discrimination,” said the “Culture of Racism in Lebanon” study compiled by Italian Solidarity in the World (COSV) and a collection of leading Lebanese human rights NGOs.

Lebanese authorities must clearly define racism in legislation, identify the number of cases, set out legal consequences and judicial mechanisms to prosecute

Video: Nepalese and Lebanese Remember an Innocent Nepalese Life Lost in Lebanon

Sunday 20 March, a vigil was held to commemorate the death of a Nepalese worker in Lebanon. Thank you Anti Racism Movement and Migrant Task Force.

The Migrant Task Force organizes a vigil to remember mepalese migrant worker dead in Jdeide

Time: Sunday, March 20 · 2:30pm - 5:30pm
Location: Saad Street, Jdeideh, Beirut
Facebook event: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=171975162855322
Death originally reported here: http://ethiopiansuicides.blogspot.com/2011/02/nepalese-commits-suicide-by-hanging.html

On Saturday, February 26 a 30-year old woman from Nepal named Samoay Wanching Tamang committed suicide at her employers apartment in Jdeide under mysterious circumstances. The Police are shutting up, her employers are shutting up, and no one is willing to ask WHY?

Why is one migrant worker dying a week in Lebanon? Why did two die last week? Why have hundreds of young women been murdered, abused, tortured, and pushed to suicide by... their employers in Lebanon in recent years?

JOIN US this SUNDAY at 3 PM on Sa’ad Street in Jdeideh to COMMEMORATE the life and death of Samoay Wanching Tamang, one of hundreds of migrant workers denied their full human rights, and show her neighbors that she is not just a statistic in some report. We will be accompanied by members of the Nepalese community paying their respects through a Buddhist funeral ceremony.

We will be meeting at 14:30 in Dawra to head over together. Please contact us through Facebook or email mwtaskforce.lb at gmail dot com for more info.

*******
More info on Samoay at http://hibr.me/content/who-was-samoay-wanching-tamang

The Migrant Worker Task Force (http://mwtaskforce.wordpress.com/) and the Anti-Racism Movement (http://antiracismmovement.blogspot.com/) are two initiatives committed to exposing the mistreatment of migrant workers in Lebanon and working with migrant workers to FIGHT for their rights.

If you believe human lives are equal regardless of race, gender, or class, join us and DEMAND that the lives of migrant workers be respected!

Nepalese "commits suicide" by hanging herself today

Nepalese domestic worker, Samoay Wanching Tamang, born in 1980, "committed suicide", according to a National News Agency brief, by hanging herself from a cloth tied to a metal bar in the bedroom of her employer J. J. (born in 1938) living in Jdeideh, Sa'ad street. The cloth was taken from a robe of her elderly employer. The medical examination confirmed the "suicide" noting the absence of violence on the body of the worker. The embassy was informed of the medical report.

أقدمت النيبالية سامواي وانشينغ تامانج (مواليد 1980) على شنق نفسها بعدما شنقت نفسها على قسطل حديدي مثبت في غرفة نوم مخدومتها ج.ج (مواليد 1938) حيث لفت عنقها بقطعة قماش عائدة لثوب مستخدمتها المسنة، في محلة الجديدة - شارع السعد . وبعد الكشف الذي أجراه الطبيب الشرعي، أكد انتحار الخادمة مبينا عدم وجود أي علامات عنف على أنحاء جسمها. وقد أعلمت سفارة بلادها بالتقرير الطبي وأرفقته بملفها التحقيقي بناء على إشارة القضاء.

One of the girls returned from Lebanon with broken legs and could no longer speak after her employer threw her down from the fifth floor of a building

I wonder if the Lebanese security forces concluded that it was an attempted suicide.
Original article:
A woman with a mission
By RASHVINJEET S.BEDI, Sunday January 30, 2011
She has been labelled the Terminator by human traffickers. For her untiring efforts in fighting sex slavery and exploitation of women and children, Anuradha Koirala was chosen CNN Hero 2010. Sunday Star catches up with this feisty woman.

10 Nepalese dead in Lebanon in 2010

More than 800 Nepali migrant workers lost their lives last year while working abroad.
(...)
Malaysia claimed 217 lives, followed by Qatar (192), the UAE (84), and Lebanon (10).

http://www.thehimalayantimes.com/fullNews.php?headline=Over+800+workers+died+abroad%2C+160+suicides+&NewsID=272935

Two deaths of domestic workers reported in today's news

As-Safir newspaper reported today the "suicide" of two migrant domestic workers.

In the first case, a Nepalese, Nebedki Sherba (born in 1983) two days ago at her employer's house (A. D. born in 1944) in Naccache (North of Beirut) hanging from a piece of cloth from the balcony. The coroner and the forensic police were assigned to investigate the causes of death.

In the second case, in Awkar, Ethiopian domestic worker Atnash Helmichel Arayzo (born in 1983) was found dead in her bed, at the house of her employer Lebanese army colonel A. S. No further information was given.

«انتحار» عاملتين أجنبيتين
عثرت القوى الأمنية على جثة العاملة النيبالية نمبدكي شربا (مواليد 1983)، صباح أمس، في منزل مخدومها م. أ. د. (مواليد 1944) في النقاش، وكانت الجثة معلقة بقطعة قماش في «درابزين» الشرفة. وكلف الطبيب الشرعي والأدلة الجنائية بالكشف عليها لمعرفة الأسباب.
وفي عوكر، عثر على جثة العاملة الأثيوبية اتناش هلميشال ارايزو (مواليد 1983) ممددة على سريرها في غرفة سكنها، عند منزل مخدومها الرائد في الجيش اللبناني أ. س.

Nepalese domestic worker dead by strangulation

Al-Akhbar newspaper reported today the death by strangulation of a Nepalese domestic worker. Santi Maria Korong was found dead, strangulated, in her room in the house of her employers in Sin El Fil. The circumstances of death remain unknown according to Al-Akhbar who added that the the Nepalese has been working at Nuhad S's house for a long time. The date of death is not reported.

Original text:

جريدة الأخبار عدد الاثنين ٨ تشرين الثاني ٢٠١٠
وفاة سيدة نيبالية شنقاً
عُثر على السيدة النيبالية سانتي ماريا كورونغ مشنوقة داخل غرفتها في منزل مخدوميها الكائن في محلة سن الفيل. ملابسات الوفاة لا تزال مجهولة علماً أنها تعمل لدى نهاد ص. (مواليد 1942) منذ فترة طويلة.

Nepalese Community in Lebanon celebrates Dashain

 

Yesterday, 17 October 2010, members of the Nepalese community in Lebanon flocked to a church hall in Sed El Boushrieh, North of Beirut, to celebrate Dashain Festival. A Kafa flyer in Nepalese was distributed. The Anti-Racism Movement contributed to the organization and to mobilizing Lebanese to join the celebration.

This is Al-Akhbar's coverage of the event, in Arabic: http://www.al-akhbar.com/ar/node/210739