The Palestinian refugees living in Lebanon protested in the refugee camps against the Lebanese Minister of Labour’s unfair decisions.
Media sources confirmed that the protesters closed the main entrances of camps, South of Lebanon, where rubber tires were burned.
The entrances to the refugee camps in Sidon, South of Lebanon, were also closed in protest against the decision of the Lebanese Minister of Labour, as well as the closure of roads in El-Buss and Bourj el-Barajneh refugee camps, and the burning of tires in al-Rashidiya camp.
In fact, these protests took place following the Labour Ministry’s decision (issued last week) regarding its plan to "combat the illegal foreign workers" and to prosecute the unlicensed Palestinian workers.
It is noteworthy that the registration process of the Palestinian workers obliges the employer to pay 23.5% of the worker’s salary to social security (since 2010), so that the workers can benefit from the severance pay. Thus, for this reason, many employers tend to evade from the workers’ registration.
For its part, the Lebanese Ministry of Labour confirmed in a statement, last Monday, that the plan to combat the illegal foreign workers in Lebanon aims at implementing the law on everyone, regardless of their nationalities.
The Lebanese newspaper, Al-Akhbar, reported that the Lebanese Labour Minister, Camille Abousleiman, and the Palestinian ambassador in Beirut, Achraf Dabbour, agreed to give the Palestinian refugees a deadline (from two to six months) to acquire the necessary work permits.
It is noteworthy that the Palestinian refugees contribute to 11% of the economic cycle in Lebanon. Although the Palestinian refugees exempted from paying for work permits and benefit from severance pay, the number of work permits granted to the Palestinians in 2016 did not exceed 729, according to the Lebanese Palestinian Dialogue Committee.
#Lebanon: #Palestinians protest crackdown on unlicensed foreign workers
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