In an answer typical of the inferiority complex of many Lebanese towards the "West", the minister of Labor replied to the report on Access to Justice for migrant domestic workers by claiming that it harms the image of Lebanon and disfigures it. The minister added that the Ministry of Labor is committed to protecting the rights of migrant workers in Lebanon.
In Al-Akhbar's coverage of this issue, we also read that the minister declared that 114,000 migrant domestic workers work legally in Lebanon, and 86,000 are without legal residency.
Rights activists replied to the minister saying "the report is on the judiciary and access to justice for migrant domestic workers, not about your ministry." And they asked whether the minister wants to put a cover on the issue of mistreatment of migrant domestic workers in Lebanon.
Full Al-Akhbar article in Arabic available here: http://ethiopiansuicides.blogspot.com/2010/09/blog-post_29.html
Already, the presence of the representative of the minister of labor at the conference launching the report two weeks ago was useless. He went to great length to defend the ministry's work as if they were in the accusation box, instead of exploring ways to strengthen the legal and judicial protection of migrant domestic workers.
No comments:
Post a Comment