Due to the worsening economic conditions, an unprecedented number of migrant workers have lost their sources of income and are no longer able to pay their rent. More and more landlords who are aware of the dire conditions that migrant workers live in, threaten them with evictions or actively evict them.
The Ministry of Labor is set to release an amended version of the Standard Unified Contract (SUC) which, in theory, intends to regulate the working relationship between migrant domestic workers and their sponsors (employers). However, the contract is only one piece of the Kafala system and, due to lack of any enforcement mechanism, it is arguably the least important piece.
13 Ethiopian women left a shelter run by Caritas on June 22, 2020, reporting some concerning violations of their rights during their stay.
More than 100 migrant workers of different nationalities have been abandoned by their employers or showed up at their consulate since the beginning of June 2020. The majority of these workers are Ethiopian due to the size of the Ethiopian community in Lebanon. The Ethiopian consulate failed to intervene and closed its doors to its own citizens.
Since the beginning of the economic crisis in Lebanon in 2019, migrant workers have suffered severe financial losses due to being fired, reduction in salaries, and rapid devaluation of the local currency.
To respond to the impact of the coronavirus and economic crises on migrant workers, ARM is planning interventions for basic needs assistance including food and hygiene kits and advocacy to prevent evictions. We are calling for volunteers to help us in the following projects:
There are around 1.5 million non-Lebanese people in Lebanon and yet most COVID-19 response plans target Lebanese people only. Viruses do not target people based on their nationality or their legal status.
Due to the worsening economic crisis, migrant workers in Lebanon are unable to transfer money to their families abroad. Their families rely on this money for survival.
At the Anti-Racism Movement (ARM), we are constantly working on a multitude of different activities and initiatives. Most of our activities are only possible with the help of dedicated and passionate volunteers who work in collaboration with our core team.
The Anti-Racism Movement (ARM) was launched in 2010 as a grassroots collective by young Lebanese feminist activists in collaboration with migrant workers and migrant domestic workers.
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