#Lebanon should #AbolishKafala - a system that traps 10000s of migrant domestic workers in potentially harmful situations by tying their legal status to their employer, enabling abusive conditions amounting at worst to modern-day slavery.
https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/07/27/lebanon-abolish-kafala-sponsorship-system

As a first step, #Lebanon's Labor Ministry should urgently adopt a new standard unified contract (SUC) that respects & protects the rights of migrant domestic workers. The contract should be subject to a stringent oversight and accountability mechanism.

The current contract lacks vital safeguards against forced labor & does not meet intl human rights/labor standards. It does not allow migrant domestic workers to leave the employer’s home w/out permission or terminate the contract w/out employer consent, except in extreme cases.

Any contract should guarantee:
-Labor protections equal to those for other workers under #Lebanon labor law
-right to terminate contract w/out losing legal residency
-right to join/form unions
-minimum wage
-right to retain IDs and to move and communicate freely

But new rights-respecting contract only first step to #AbolishKafala:
-Amend labor law to include migrant domestic workers
-outlaw detention for lack of legal residency
-fix recruitment process
-strengthen enforcement mechanism & train security + judiciary to investigate abuses