Demande directe (CEACR) - adoptée 2024, publiée 113ème session CIT (2025)

Convention (n° 88) sur le service de l'emploi, 1948 - Liban (Ratification: 1977)

The Committee notes the Government’s Report received on 15 September 2023 and the observations made by the General Confederation of Lebanese Workers (CGTL) dated 10 August 2023. The Committee requests the Government to provide its comments in this regard.

Articles 6(b) and 11. Measures to protect migrant workers.Effective co-operation between the public employment service and private employment agencies. The Government states that migrant workers who hold work permits enjoy the rights prescribed in the Labour Code and benefit from an employment contract that specifies the status of the work, the employer, and their salary. The Government also refers to the draft Labour Code sent to the Council of Ministers on 11 April 2022, which includes inter alia a provision permitting the establishment of agencies exclusively for the recruitment of women domestic workers (Section 131). In its observations, the CGTL indicates that section 59(3) of the Labour Code, as amended by section 1 of Act No. 129 of 24 August 2010, stipulates that upon their dismissal from service, foreign workers shall enjoy the rights that Lebanese workers enjoy on condition of reciprocity and shall be required to obtain work permits from the Ministry of Labour. As regards women domestic workers, the CGTL argues that the Ministry of Labour has issued a decision regulating the activity of recruitment agencies for female migrant domestic workers and adopted a standard unified contract, but indicates that these provisions have not been applied in practice. The CGTL also refers in this respect to the need to take appropriate measures to stop forced labour in domestic work and the Kafala system, which is applied in contravention of the law. The Committee further notes that, according to the UNHCR, restrictive measures against Syrian refugees have significantly increased throughout 2023 following circulars issued by the Ministry of Interior and Municipalities and local directives, impacting refugees’ access to labour, ability to rent, and freedom of movement (UNHCR, Annual Results Report, 2023, Lebanon, p. 8). The Committee requests the Government to respond to the observations made by the CGTL and to indicate the measures taken to ensure the protection of categories of migrant workers in view of the Convention’s requirement that the employment service take appropriate measures to facilitate the movement of documented workers from one country to another. The Committee also asks the Government to provide additional information on the decision regulating the activity of recruitment agencies for female migrant domestic workers and the standard unified contract, indicating whether they have entered into force and providing copies thereof. It specifically requests the Government to indicate how these agencies cooperate with the public employment service, including as regards the conditions under which their cross-border movement is facilitated and in view of the allegations of the CGTL related to the existence of forced labour in the domestic work sector.