Al-Akhbar newspaper published today a front page article on the suicide cases in the past 6 weeks. It raises questions as to the speed with which the Lebanese investigators conclude that the death was due to suicide of the migrant worker, even in cases when the body is bruised for reasons other than…
Archive for the ‘News’ Category
Why does the investigation of the “suicide” of migrant workers ends at “record speed”, asks Al-Akhbar
November 26th, 2009
Housemaids Lebanon Legislation Suicide Working conditions
Notes on the Situation of Migrant Domestic Workers in Lebanon
November 26th, 2009
When I was interviewed by a journalist from El Mundo (Spain) regarding the situation of foreign maids in Lebanon, we somewhat agreed that migrant domestic workers in Lebanon are well treated “in a significant number of homes”. There’s a lot of generalization about the “evil” Lebanese house...
Racist Cartoon: Gulf Times Publishes Complaint Letters
November 26th, 2009
Qatari Paper The Gulf Times has published a selection of complaint letters on yesterday’s Opinion page about a racist cartoon depicting an Asian maid as a ‘child killer’ in Tuesday’s edition. Here is what concerned readers and migrant rights activists had to say: Human rig...
Lebanon: Safia D., Bengali, has committed suicide yesterday
November 24th, 2009
Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar has reported today that Safia D., a 26 year old Bengali maid, was found dead in the house of her employers, close to Jbeil (Byblos), hanging from a rope around her neck, tied to a pipe in the heating room of the house. Security reports said that she committed suicide. Th...
Dubai Labour Camps to get Sewage System
November 23rd, 2009
Last week The National reported that labour camps in Dubai were to get a modern sewage system, ending years of relying on septic tanks.The very fact that this story is considered headline-worthy bears testimony to the chronically low standard of accommodation that migrant labourers have to put up wi...
Lebanon Migrant Deaths ‘a National Tragedy’
November 22nd, 2009
Housemaids Lebanon News Suicide
At least nine migrant women have taken their own lives in the months of October and November. The women, from Nepal, the Philippines, Ethiopia and Madagascar, had been working as maids. ‘It’s a national tradedy’ Nadim Houry, a Senior Researcher at Human Rights Watch, told IPS (see...
Indonesian Government Told to Stop Sending Unskilled Workers Abroad
November 21st, 2009
A group of Indonesian civil society organisations has urged their government to stop sending unskilled workers abroad because they are too vulnerable to abuses by their employers according to this story in The Jakarta Post. Most Indonesian migrants go to the Gulf states or Malaysia for work. Low-sk...
Israeli Building Owner Creates a Fire Hazard Leading to Death of 2 Workers
November 21st, 2009
Two days, a fire in an apartment building in Tel Aviv, which housed mostly migrant workers, resulted in the death of two people and injury of 12 others. The victims, a man and a woman in their thirties, are probably workers from Liberia. The fire started around 2:00 AM and spread all across the buil...
Israel’s Finance Minister: Migrant Workers are to Blame for Many of Israel’s Economic Problems
November 17th, 2009
Israel’s Finance Minister Dr. Yuval Steinitz publicly confirmed today that his ministry is looking for the funds for a wall across the Egyptian-Israeli border, though which many migrant workers and refugees enter Israel. This is one of the moves the Israeli government is considering in its eff...
Loading... 