How the Kenyan consulate in Lebanon became feared by the women it was meant to help
ARM flags up the desperate situation of domestic workers in Lebanon, the Seafood Working Group criticizes Thailand’s TIP ranking, and CHTEA highlights the plight of Ugandan girls being trafficked to Kenya.
Last Thursday marked the annual World Day against Trafficking in Persons. Maria Grazia Giammarinaro, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, called for a meaningful shift in the prevention of and fight against trafficking, and asserted that such work needed to be genuinely inspired by a human rights agenda to be really effective.
Many reports were published as part of the event, including Addressing Emerging Human Trafficking Trends and Consequences of the COVID-19 Pandemic by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) and the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women), and a new report by UNHCR and the Mixed Migration Centre (MMC) detailing the extreme human rights abuses that occur on irregular journeys between West and East Africa and Africa’s Mediterranean coast. The ILO launched a toolkit to support quality reporting on forced labor and fair recruitment.
On 28 July CNN published an exposé detailing the abuse of numerous Kenyan women by the Kenyan Consulate in Beirut, Lebanon. The women alleged that 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 last week’s CNN report, migrant workers who report to their respective consulates for assistance rarely receive any help.
Lebanon’s economic collapse, which has been steadily unfolding throughout the year, has had a devastating impact on its migrant domestic worker population, many of whom now wish to be repatriated. Under the Kafala (‘sponsorship’) system, domestic workers typically do not have the right to end their contract and are reliant on their employers – most of whom retain their passports and many of whom lock their domestic workers inside their houses – to allow them to return to their home countries.
The CNN investigation springs from the work of Lebanon’s migrant worker advocacy group Anti-Racism Movement (ARM Lebanon), which has been detailing reports of abuse at consulates and shelters. In May and June 2020 the Anti-Racism Movement received more than 1,000 calls from migrant workers of various nationalities asking for food, which they could no longer afford to buy; many were calling on behalf of their families or for apartments housing groups of 10 or 20 people. These numbers show an alarming deterioration in the living conditions of migrant workers who are left stranded, trapped and at risk in Lebanon, yet receive no response from the authorities either in Lebanon or their home countries.
ARM has issued an urgent appeal for the relevant entities to take action to ensure the safe and immediate return of workers. It urges the African Union to 1) issue public statements condemning the violations committed by Lebanese authorities against migrant domestic workers from African countries 2) to demand that the Ethiopian consulates establish an evacuation plan to ensure the repatriation of migrant domestic workers [a large proportion of the workforce is Ethiopian], 3) to develop an emergency repatriation plan and provide temporary emergency AU passports to domestic workers whose passports have been taken by recruitment agencies and sponsors, and 4) to work on an evacuation plan sponsored by the AU.
Following the CNN report, the Kenyan government is to send a fact-finding mission to Beirut to look into the allegations of mistreatment.
Here’s a round-up of other noteworthy news and initiatives:
The Seafood Working Group, a global coalition of labor, human rights, and environmental non-governmental organizations, responded to the 2020 TIP report’s decision to maintain Thailand’s ranking at Tier 2, despite detailed and comprehensive evidence demonstrating the weaknesses of the Thai government’s efforts in the areas of prosecution, protection and prevention of human trafficking in 2019. It states that the U.S. missed an opportunity to send a clear message to the Thai government that its efforts to combat trafficking need to be more robust.
The Counter Human Trafficking Trust - East Africa (CHTEA), a Kenya-based anti-trafficking organization, worked with the Kenya Television Network to highlight the plight of girls trafficked from Karamojong in Uganda to Kenya. The documentary highlights how girls are sold for as little as $13 to work as domestic workers in the Kenyan capital.
A British victim of trafficking is bringing a case against home secretary Priti Patel, arguing that Patel’s department unlawfully accessed personal information including details of her intimate thoughts. If the case succeeds it could have implications for tens of thousands of others who may also have had their personal information accessed by officials.
New research by the ENACT organized crime programme shows that illicit human movement networks are active and growing in Kenya, despite government labor migration regulations and legislation that criminalize human trafficking.
Stop Trafficking of People (STOP) has observed a sharp increase in anxiety, insomnia and suicidal tendencies among survivors of human trafficking in Hong Kong.
Share your news
Post your experiences from the field and initiatives to feature