Hundreds of foreign domestic workers protested in Lebanon on the 5th of May against the sponsorship system, which subjects them to being assaulted by their employers.
According to the BBC Arabic TV the protesters, mostly from Ethiopia, the Philippines and Sri Lanka, are often subjected to physical assaults, abuse, verbal abuse, ill-treatment and food deprivation.
In fact, the domestic workers in Lebanon are not covered by labour laws and they are granted the right to reside in the country by their employers’ sponsorship.
The demonstrators carried banners reading "Stop slavery, we want justice!" and "Stop the sponsorship system."
It is noteworthy that the Lebanese Ministry of Labour introduced a unified contract for the domestic workers in 2009, but it is written in Arabic, which they cannot read.
The activists accuse the authorities of being reckless about the investigation of the domestic workers’ abuse and exploitation.
In fact, Lebanon has more than a quarter of a million foreign domestic workers, who serve as maids, nannies and patients’ sitters.
Amnesty International called on Lebanon, last month to end what it called the "abusive" sponsorship system and change the labour law as it would provide some protection for the domestic workers.
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