The exploitation of Ethiopian servants in Lebanon

Audio 02:28

By: Laure Stephan

In Lebanon, a violent economic and financial crisis is hitting society hard. And the migrant women who work as domestic servants in the houses are not spared, they are nearly 250,000, the majority of them Ethiopian. For years, their fate has been denounced by associations: exploitation, non-payment of wages, even violence ... To these abuses is added today the crisis: some employees are abandoned on the street by families who can no longer afford them pay. Others have lost their jobs. Many dream of returning home.

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Mar Elias, Palestinian camp at the gates of Beirut, it is in this place where the rents are cheaper than Zeina, a young Ethiopian, shares accommodation with compatriots. Aged 26, she came to Lebanon under contract, living at the home of her employers. But she lost her job eight months ago: "  My employers told me," we're out of money ". It happened before the coronavirus crisis, I was earning $ 150 a month… They told me, see with your embassy if you want them to take you on a trip. I left them. What can I do ? There is no possibility of working in another house. There are no more dollars. "

Zeina has spent her days waiting. The shortage of dollars, the loss of value of the local currency, inflation… Everything that paralyzes the life of the Lebanese affects refugees and migrants, the most vulnerable in the country. Upstairs below lives Marta, along with other Ethiopian friends: “  The rent is paid by the girls. There are four of us here, but I have no more work and no money. If there are no dollars, there is no work. We are afraid ... Even the food has become very expensive.  "

Faced with the crisis, Marta hopes to return home, but she does not have a passport: it was confiscated, she says, by her former employer, when she was under contract. It is one of the most common violations, among those, numerous, denounced by associations which militate for the rights of migrant women. Zeina, she has her papers, but does not know how to leave and dares not tell her family about her situation in Ethiopia: “  We all want to go home. If our state helps us, if it finances repatriation, then we can travel. But if there is no help, what are we going to do ? It's impossible that we pay for tickets. Our number one problem is money. We don't win any more.  "

At the foot of the Ethiopian consulate, on the outskirts of Beirut, young women came to ask for help last Friday. They accuse their representatives of doing nothing. Their dismay revolts Tsigweyni, an employee in a better situation: “  Their fate is the responsibility of the Lebanese State, then of the employers and the recruitment offices. As a "madam "  was able to bring a young woman to work, when everything was going well for her, she must ensure her return today, it is her duty by law. And it is also the responsibility of the consulate to find a solution, but it has its own problems.  "

On several occasions, young women slept in the street under the consulate: some had been abandoned there by their employer. They are now housed in shelters, and in uncertainty.

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• Lebanon
• Employment and Work
• Ethiopia
• Women

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