Lebanon- Lebanese authorities have deported at least 21 domestic workers with children since the summer of 2016, saying that they did not live with their employers or were not supposed to have babies in Lebanon, according to the local human rights organization Ensan.
These women have not been accused of violating their visas with multiple employers, and Ensan organization has not documented a similar pattern of deportations of women without children living outside the employers home.
Human Rights Watch spoke with three migrant domestic workers who have children and got deported, local NGOs and migrant workers activities supported their stories.
Working in Lebanon does not mean that these women are denied the right to establish a family, said Lema Fakih, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch, These deportations cause disruption in family life and penalize female workers for no reason.
These women told Human Rights Watch by telephone that their deportation had a devastating impact on their lives, preventing them from working, separating families and stopping their childrens education. Some of these women have lived in Lebanon for decades with children born and raised here.
Sources in the Public Security, the agency responsible for the entry of foreigners, confirmed to non-governmental organizations in 2014 that they issued new directives to prevent the renewal of residence permits for children born in Lebanon from low-wage migrant workers and their parents.
Human Rights Watch wrote to the Public Security on these deportations on 20 March, replied on 19 April: The General Directorate of Public Security has not deported any domestic worker with children in Lebanon and wants to accompany them. However, as regards letting domestic migrant workers give birth in Lebanon, this issue … is difficult to achieve without a series of violations of laws and regulations and that excessive violation of the laws in force and in any country would have its inevitable consequences for the actor. Human Rights Watch wrote to the Public Security on April 20 for clarification on the meaning of their statement, but received no response.
English 
العربية