Meserat Hailu, was 29 years old when she travelled to Beirut, Lebanon as an Ethiopian migrant domestic worker. For more than eight years, she suffered abuse by her employer until Legal Action Worldwide received word of her situation and took up her case and demanded her release.

After arriving in her village, close to Addis Ababa, Hailu stayed in contact with the lawyers from Legal Action Worldwide who supported her in initiating legal proceedings against her kafeel. On 8 October 2020, with support from UN Women, Legal Action Worldwide filed a ground-breaking case on her behalf, arguing that her treatment “constituted crimes of slavery, slave trading, trafficking in persons, forced labor, deprivation of liberty and withholding personal documents, racial discrimination, gender discrimination, and torture.”

The case has been filed on behalf of Hailu against her sponsor and the recruiter who facilitated her contract and immigration to Lebanon. It’s the first case arguing against slavery and slave trading filed before a Lebanese criminal court. If found guilty, the defendants can face a prison sentence of up to ten years under the Lebanese Penal Code.