Protecting domestic workers in Lebanon How to amend the labour code to better protect domestic migrant workers in Lebanon? ILO, 23 March 2021

The International Labour Organization issued a policy brief intends to provide recommendations on how to better protect the domestic workers in Lebanon by amending the labour code. The brief reviews the situation of the employment conditions of the migrant domestic workers in Lebanon, which were lately exacerbated as a result of the COVID-19 and provides recommendations. It further provides stakeholders including policy makers and human rights advocates with a framework for the implementation of a rights-based approach to the recruitment and employment of foreign domestic workers.

The brief argues that it is fundamental to extend labour law coverage to domestic workers by means of either parliamentary ratification of ILO Convention 189 or reforming national Law. However, evidence-based policy intervention at the institutional and grassroots levels and building towards concrete measures for changing habits and practices are preconditions for bringing more opportunities and credits for Lebanon, especially when coupled with good practices and lessons emerging from regional experiences and other technical workshops, with a view to possible adaptation and replication of successful cases.

Therefore, the ideal strategy to adopt would be to strike a balance between improving employment conditions and recruitment terms of migrant domestic workers and enhancing the authority and responsibility of the State. As a next step, in the future, the system should be further enhanced for instance to include all domestic workers, provided that the same basic standards apply regardless of nationality or gender. This will contribute preventing both a “forced labour trap” and a “race to the bottom” in regard to the regulated paid domestic work.