Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2007, published 97th ILC session (2008)

Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29) - Lebanon (Ratification: 1977)

Articles 1(1) and 2(1) of the Convention. Vulnerable situation of migrant domestic workers with regard to the illegal exaction of forced labour. In its earlier comments, the Committee referred to the observations on the application of the Convention by Lebanon received in 2001 from the World Confederation of Labour (WCL), which contained information concerning cases of the illegal abuse of migrant workers, particularly domestic workers, including non-payment of salaries, corporal punishment, sexual abuse and enforced sequestration. The WCL alleged that, from the early 1990s, there had been a particularly large influx of African and Asian women into Lebanon, serving primarily as domestic labour in private households, and that both the employment relations and social status of these women left them extremely vulnerable to exploitation and abuse, most of them falling under the category of “contract slavery”; the existence of abuse and violence, denial of basic freedom of movement and exploitative working conditions contributed to this definition.

The Committee has noted from the Government’s indications in its reports that the authorities are endeavouring to stop or prohibit the illegal exaction of forced labour which may be encountered by migrant workers who enter Lebanon in an illegal manner. According to the reports received in 2005 and 2007, the Lebanese Ministry of Labour has adopted measures for the protection of migrant workers including women working as domestic workers, particularly as regards payment of wages and other conditions of work. The Committee has noted the adoption of Order No. 70/1 of 9 July 2003 on the organization of work of agencies which bring in foreign female domestic workers, which provides for the obligations of employers with regard to working and living conditions of domestic workers, payment of their wages, and contains provisions concerning submission of complaints, supervision and labour inspection. It has also noted Order No. 40 of 10 April 2007 concerning the establishment of a National Steering Committee on the situation of female migrant domestic workers in Lebanon, in accordance with the recommendations of a workshop on this subject held in 2005 in Beirut. By virtue of section 2 of Order No. 40, the National Steering Committee shall prepare and carry out projects aiming at promoting and protecting female migrant domestic workers’ rights, in coordination with the relevant departments, the International Labour Organization, other competent Arab and international organizations, as well as non-governmental committees and other relevant bodies. The Committee has noted the ratification by Lebanon, in 2005, of the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime.

While noting this information with interest, the Committee hopes that the Government will provide, in its next report, information on the activities of the National Steering Committee and on the measures taken, both in legislation and in practice, to protect migrant domestic workers with a view to complete elimination of the exaction of forced labour from this category of workers. Please describe, in particular, the measures taken or envisaged in pursuance of recommendations of the workshop referred to above, concerning, inter alia, the elaboration of a standardized employment contract for domestic workers to be used by all employment agencies in the country, the establishment of a help desk for domestic workers at the Ministry of Labour for investigation of complaints and mediation between the employer, employment agency and worker, the inclusion of the protective measures for migrant domestic workers into the National Plan of Action on human rights.

The Committee is also addressing a request on certain other points directly to the Government.