Human Rights Watch said that there are some 200,000 migrant domestic workers in Lebanon, many of them living in conditions that violate the law. Most such workers are from Sri Lanka, the Philippines, and Ethiopia.

In a statement the group said that 95 foreign domestic workers had died in Lebanon since January 2007. Their embassies classified 40 of these cases as suicides while 24 were caused by falls from high buildings, usually during attempts to escape from employers.

The group asked a committee formed in 2006 to improve workers’ conditions to investigate the causes of these deaths and draft a clear strategy to stop them. No immediate response could be obtained from the Ministry of Labor, which has jurisdiction over the committee.

Human Rights Watch said that interviews with embassy officials and the friends of domestic workers who committed suicide suggest that “forced confinement, excessive work demands, employer abuse, and financial pressures are key factors pushing these women to kill themselves or risk their lives.”

Human Rights Watch said that labor laws in Lebanon exempt domestic workers from rights guaranteed to other workers, such as weekly days off, specific work hours, paid vacations, and compensation.

“While the Lebanese authorities cannot guarantee these women happiness, they should guarantee them the right to move freely, to work in decent conditions, to communicate with their friends and families, and to earn a living wage,” Human Rights Watch said.

Source: www.albawaba.com

August 26, 2008