With most Lebanese media preoccupied with today's parliamentary session meant to approve the new electoral law (or at least a part of it), I wasn't surprised to see them overlook this little anecdote that showed up on BBC.Apparently Human Rights Watch reported that since 2007, ninety-five migrant maids have died by either suicide or by accident when trying to escape (usually by falling from a high altitude). That's about one per week.
It isn't a secret in Lebanon that the commonly Sri Lankan, Filipino and Ethiopian maids are often abused by Lebanese employers who see them more as household appliances than employees. And with little legal protection and government regulation, these people have very little means to protect themselves against such abuse.
The article describes some horrible stories, one about a woman who was locked up with no food or water for two days before she tried to escape by climbing out of her window and ended up falling and injuring herself.
So when it comes to reasons for being ashamed of my country, this one certainly tops the list. The fact that there are Lebanese people who drive their maids to suicide alone is incredibly disgusting. Top that with how little the average Lebanese cares about this matter and the virtually unanimous indifference our politicians demonstrate in face of this kind of issue. After all, it's not like these women were gonna vote for one party or another had they lived.
What is also amazing is the ridiculously low standard HRW is holding us to: the BBC article says that HRW asked "the official Lebanese committee tasked with improving the status of domestic workers to develop a strategy to reduce the number of deaths." Seriously? So if only 20 maids commit suicide every year instead of the current 40-something, then all will be well?
Even zero suicides from employer abuse is a pessimistic objective. What we need to aim for is to eliminate any kind of employer abuse by offering these women a legal mechanism to make their employees pay for any blatant mistreatment that qualifies as abuse. Some Lebanese people need to be taught a lesson on how to treat other human beings.
I'm curious to see if and where tomorrow morning's Lebanese papers will mention this little story. I'm also curious to understand why the BBC decided to put a picture of a dog for this article... OK I know, there's clearly a foreign maid holding its leash. But still...
2 comments:
Indeed it does sound ridiculous that HRW demands a reduction to the number of deaths amongst domestic workers. However, keep in mind that such organizations (especially socially-active ones)have learned long ago that it's impossible to change cultural attitudes in an instance. Realism dictates abiding to attainable objectives. The philosophy rests on a very simple idea: put all effort into changing the attitude of a a section of society and hope for a snow ball effect. Certainly that doesn't sound most chivalry, but in their defense a little improvement is better than no improvement at all.
As for suggesting placing a legal framework through which those domestic workers can seek justice, I have a sneaky suspicion that such framework already exists (I know we have one here in Jordan). The sad truth is, though, that laws and legislations alone are never enough (a domestic worker can be intimidated out of her rights by many ways). There should be an inspection mechanism in place that is devoid of favoritism for the employers. Furthermore, the embassies of those workers should enforce a periodic debriefing / review sessions with their citizens. As for the later, I know those embassies only care about the remittances their "citizens" send far more than they care about their well being.
I totally agree... Though of course, what I meant by a legal framework, is one that works in practice, and not just one that is there on paper.
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