How the Beirut explosion became the latest disaster for Kenyan migrant workers, and why those returning from Lebanon face fresh challenges at home
At the beginning of August, we shared a CNN report detailing the abuse of numerous Kenyan women by the Kenyan Consulate in Beirut, Lebanon. The women alleged that employees at the consulate had stolen money from them, physically assaulted them, and attempted to coerce them to perform sex work. The consulate is tasked with the protection of over 1,000 Kenyan domestic workers, however, as detailed in the CNN report, migrant workers who report to their respective consulates for assistance rarely receive any help.
We wanted to provide an update on how the situation has evolved since then and so we spoke with our partners in Kenya. They described the current circumstances and challenges for workers in Lebanon, and explained why repatriation is only the start of the journey for returning migrants.
Following the CNN feature, Kenya’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs sent a delegation from Nairobi to Lebanon to investigate the allegations of abuse put forward by various actors against the Kenyan Consulate office in Beirut. The report of this investigation has not yet been released.
Later, on 4 August, the day we shared the report, an enormous explosion in the port of Beirut ripped through entire neighborhoods, gutting apartment buildings, killing more than 190 people, and causing billions of dollars’ worth of damage. Afterwards, the plight of Kenyan migrants in Beirut went from bad to worse. The explosion forced the immediate resignation of the sitting government and it greatly hampered the enforcement of law and order, a situation exacerbated by the country’s near collapsing economy. These difficult circumstances forced a group of desperate Kenyans to invade the Kenyan Consulate in Beirut and stage a continuous sit-in protest demanding evacuation. Some of them were accompanied by children and babies yet stayed out in the cold, day and night, as they begged the Kenyan government to take action.
Already aware of the predicament of migrant workers in Lebanon, organizations in Kenya quickly mobilized to evacuate the most urgent cases, including mothers with children. This work is ongoing and anti-trafficking groups continue to receive requests for repatriation from Kenyans stranded in Beirut. CHTEA (Counter Human Trafficking Trust-East Africa) and Trace Kenya have coordinated the return of many victims, and supported their journey home. As of 20 September 2020, over 100 Kenyans have been repatriated from Lebanon, most of them deeply traumatized and disoriented.
This could arguably be said to be the most difficult part of the intervention.
CHTEA is currently filing a long list of returnees requesting assistance. The first ten have been given psycho-social support and it is intended that they be further supported with financial resources for income-generating activities (IGA), to help them make a fresh start. This is an important part of their healing and reintegration process since most of them came back with nothing to show for their entire time abroad. 99% of the returnees had migrated to Lebanon in the hope of better opportunities and experienced exploitation in the hands of abusive employers and complicit recruitment agencies. However, CHTEA will only be able to help a maximum of about 20 victims, and this resource gap is extremely concerning. CHTEA would gladly welcome any support.
Here’s a round-up of other noteworthy news and initiatives:
In a statement to mark Anti-Trafficking Day, the Council of Europe’s Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (GRETA) has called for the rights of trafficking victims to be fully respected during COVID-19 restrictions.
Thomson Reuters Foundation has published three animated videos which tell the stories of anti-slavery advocates in Brazil, Mexico and Vietnam who have devoted their lives to this task.
WOW has been investigating the current state of data on women in global value chains. In a new brief, they make the case for better visibility of women workers, both for business and society. The document sets out some of the challenges businesses face in collecting robust data and starts to identify opportunities for improved transparency. It is written for companies or practitioners engaging in global value chains, in particular those such as garments, agriculture and personal care, which rely heavily on women’s labour, as well as anyone looking to create safe and fair working conditions for all men and women workers.
The UN-recognized government in Libya has detained a coastguard commander in connection with human trafficking and migrant smuggling. The UN Security Council previously accused him of intentionally sinking migrant boats.
Our colleagues from Liberty Shared’s VCMS team discuss the importance of systematizing data capture from civil society to map and track cases of human trafficking, forced labour and exploitation, in a new article on the Delta 8.7 knowledge platform.
This multi-authored op-ed addresses ongoing concerns about human trafficking-related misinformation, and the recent – problematic – submissions to South Africa’s Constitutional Court.
During a webinar on 29 October, the team behind the Anti-Trafficking Review, alongside a number of speakers, will present the latest issue, which explores the driving forces behind the increasing prominence of precarious work, the expanding role of migrant labour within the global economy, and the relationship between everyday abuses and forms of severe exploitation which have come to be defined as human trafficking and modern slavery.
An article written by a Freedom Story board member and published by Thomson Reuters Foundation explains how the QAnon conspiracy theory is damaging the anti-trafficking movement. The baseless theory, which claims that U.S. liberals are engaged in a child sex trafficking ring, is distracting and diverting valuable resources from legitimate efforts to stop trafficking, according to the report.
The Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women (GAATW) is currently recruiting for a Programme Officer to work on two projects with partners in South and Southeast Asia to carry out in collaborative research and advocacy with returnee women migrant workers.
GFEMS is looking for passionate individuals who want to create lasting social impact for the following positions: Strategic Programs Officer, Government; Strategic Programs Officer, Foundations; and Grant Programs Associate, Europe.
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