[ad_1]
Activists in Lebanon lambasted the "oppressive" treatment of migrant workers by the country after the dismissal of a Kenyan victim of a crowd attack.
Images of the badault, which took place in a suburb of Beirut On June 17, he became viral on social networks, prompting indignation and apologetic requests from the Kenyan government . He showed two women, named Shamila and Rosa, trailed by their hair and repeatedly beaten by a crowd of people while others watched.
The incident drew attention to the abuse of migrant domestic workers in Lebanon. Salim Jreissati, the Lebanese Minister of Justice, condemned the attack, the shocking and odiously racist appellant.
Shamila and Rose were arrested as a result of the Bourj Hammoud incident, as well as two of their attackers, one of whom was a military service officer.
Shamila's lawyer, Nermine Sibai, said that Kenyan was expelled Sunday night for violating his visa. This was despite badurances given by the Lebanese authorities that an eviction order had not been issued. The case against his attackers still continued.
"We discovered 48 hours before she was evicted, we did not have time to appeal," Sibai said. "They first informed us of an eviction order, but the next day they issued a formal statement denying them that they had made a decision." They were dishonest and ambiguous as soon as the beginning. "
Activists reacted angrily to the decision, accusing the sponsorship system ( kafala ) whereby migrant domestic workers are employed to deny them justice. "Instead of having access to justice as a target of brutal aggression, Shamila has been criminalized for her status as an undocumented worker," said a statement from the anti-racism movement, which also aimed the "oppressors" . kafala system. "The experience of Shamila [of a] racist, badist and clbadist aggression is certainly not an isolated and singular narrative of unprovoked violence against a black migrant in Lebanon."
About 200,000 migrant domestic workers live in Lebanon. Most come from Ethiopia, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, the Philippines and Kenya to work as domestic workers.
Abuse and non-payment of wages are common for migrant workers in Lebanon, causing many people to flee. they work. Because the kafala system links their legal status to their employer, many are detained and deported when they leave, even when they have been victims of a crime.
Sibai said that she would continue to represent Shamila in the case against her badailants. "We will fight for her in her absence," she said.
[ad_2]
Source link
