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Slavery existed in the territory of modern Lebanon until the 20th century. It was formally abolished by the French in 1931. Many members of the Afro-Arabian minority are descendants of the former slaves. Slavery of people from Africa and East Asia was succeeded by the modern Kafala system of poor workers from the same region where slaves had previously been imported.
Lebanon belonged to Ottoman Empire in 1516–1920. African slaves were imported from the Red Sea slave trade via Damascus, and from the Trans-Saharan slave trade via Egypt; there were also a small import of Caucasian (mostly Circassian) women for the rich. [1] Eunuch boys and female slaves were used for domestic service in private households (harems). [1]
The Ottoman Empire issued decrees to restrict and gradually prohibit the slave trade and slavery between 1830 and 1909, but these laws were not strictly enforced in the Ottoman provinces. [2]
The Ottoman Empire introduced laws to gradually abolish the slave trade in the 19th century (1830–1909), but these laws were not executed in the Ottoman provinces. By the 1870s, the slave market in Beirut was conducted away from the public eye and mainly consisted of private importation and private sale. [1] In 1877, there were about 4,500 "negresses" in the private Muslim households in Beirut, with an average of 450 being imported annually, in addition to about 100 white (Circassian) women each year. [1]
Open slavery became defunct in practice when Lebanon and Syria was transformed in to the French Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon (1923−1946), and on 20 July 1931, France ratified the 1926 Slavery Convention on behalf of both Syria and Lebanon, which was enforced on 25 June 1931. [3]
Many members of the Afro-Lebanese minority are descendants of the former slaves. After the abolition of slavery, poor migrant workers were employed under the Kafala system, which have been compared to slavery. [4]
Before the start of the Lebanese Civil War young girls, aged ten and upwards, who came from poor Lebanese families or from other countries such as Syria, Palestine and Egypt were employed in Lebanese households. The girl's parents collected their salary annually though the girls remained with their employers until they got married. [5] Following the beginning of the Lebanese Civil War, many Arab domestic workers decided to leave due to a general economic decline and a crisis in security. That in turn left a gap in the country's domestic workforce. [6] A change in situation came about with the arrival of African and Asian migrant workers. The first migrants arrived in the late 1970s. [7] Initially, the highest percentage of migrant workers were male until that is the 1980s and early 1990s when an increasing feminization of the migrant labour force became evident. [8]
The migrants, mostly from Sri Lanka and Philippine, arrived together in large groups through both illegal and semi-legal channels. [6]
The Kafala system involves a sponsor who has the legal responsibility for a migrant domestic worker during a contract period, [9] making the worker dependent upon the sponsor. The Kafala system is not legally binding in Lebanon because recruiters cannot act as a sponsor. [10] Instead the system is made up of a number for administrative regulations, customary practices and legal requirements which bind the worker to the recruiter temporarily. [11] . Once in Lebanon, the migrant domestic worker is assigned an employer. A worker may not change employer or break the terms of the contract unless the employer signs a release waiver. This must be done before a notary public and Lebanese authorities give an official release. [12] A worker becomes illegal if they leave without the consent of their sponsor and the official release from the authorities. Human Rights Watch has said that the Kafala system in Lebanon puts workers at risk of exploitation and abuse, [13] while Anti-Slavery International has said that the system is one of the major causes of vulnerability of migrant workers. [14] The Kafala system means that the sponsor of the migrant domestic worker is legally responsible for the migrant and the state's responsibility for 'alien surveillance' is then passed on to the employer. [15]
In April 2019, Amnesty International urged Lebanon government to end the Kafala system which has led to the abuse of thousands of domestic workers in the Mediterranean country. [16]
By suspending the implementation of a new standard unified contract, Lebanon's State Shura Council caused a sharp blow to the migrant domestic worker rights. The new contract allowed workers to terminate their contract without the consent of their employer, dismantling a key abusive aspect of the kafala system. [17]
Migrant domestic workers are, according to the International Labour Organization’s Convention No. 189 and the International Organization for Migration, any persons "moving to another country or region to better their material or social conditions and improve the prospect for themselves or their family," engaged in a work relationship performing "in or for a household or households." Domestic work itself can cover a "wide range of tasks and services that vary from country to country and that can be different depending on the age, gender, ethnic background and migration status of the workers concerned." These particular workers have been identified by some academics as situated within "the rapid growth of paid domestic labor, the feminization of transnational migration, and the development of new public spheres." Prominent discussions on the topic include the status of these workers, reasons behind the pursue in this labour, recruitment and employment practices in the field, and various measures being undertaken to change the conditions of domestic work among migrants.
The state of human rights in Qatar is a concern for several non-governmental organisations, such as Human Rights Watch, which reported in 2012 that hundreds of thousands of mostly South Asian migrant workers in construction in Qatar risk serious exploitation and abuse, sometimes amounting to forced labour. Awareness grew internationally after Qatar's selection to stage the 2022 FIFA World Cup, and some reforms have since taken place, including two sweeping changes in 2020.
Lebanon is a destination for Asian and African women trafficked for the purpose of domestic servitude, and for Eastern European and Syrian women trafficked for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation. Lebanese children are trafficked within the country for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation and forced labor in the metal works, construction, and agriculture sectors. Women from Sri Lanka, the Philippines, and Ethiopia migrate to Lebanon legally, but often find themselves in conditions of forced labor, through unlawful withholding of passports, non-payment of wages, restrictions on movement, threats, and physical or sexual assault. During the armed conflict in July 2006, Sri Lankan domestic workers reported being restricted from leaving the country by their employers. Eastern European and Syrian women come to Lebanon on "artiste" visas, but some become victims of trafficking for commercial sexual exploitation when they are subjected to coercive acts such as unlawful withholding of passports, restrictions on movement, threats, and physical assault. Since the refugee crisis in Syria, the sex trade and trafficking of Syrian girls and women has increased in Lebanon.
Bahrain is a Source and destination country for men and women subjected to trafficking in persons, specifically forced labor and forced prostitution. Men and women from India, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, Ethiopia, and Eritrea migrate voluntarily to Bahrain to work as domestic workers or as unskilled laborers in the construction and service industries. Some, however, face conditions of forced labor after arriving in Bahrain, through use of such practices as unlawful withholding of passports, restrictions on movement, contract substitution, non-payment of wages, threats, and physical or sexual abuse.
Qatar is a transit and destination country for men and women subjected to trafficking in persons, specifically forced labor and, to a much lesser extent, forced prostitution. Men and women from Nepal, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, the Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Ethiopia, Sudan, Thailand, Egypt, Syria, Jordan, and China voluntarily travel to Qatar as laborers and domestic servants, but some subsequently face conditions indicative of involuntary servitude. These conditions include threats of serious physical or financial harm; job switching; the withholding of pay; charging workers for benefits for which the employer is responsible; restrictions on freedom of movement, including the confiscation of passports and travel documents and the withholding of exit permits; arbitrary detention; threats of legal action and deportation; false charges; and physical, mental, and sexual abuse. In some cases, arriving migrant workers have found that the terms of employment in Qatar are wholly different from those they agreed to in their home countries. Individuals employed as domestic servants are particularly vulnerable to trafficking since they are not covered under the provisions of the labor law. A small number of foreign workers transit Qatar and are forced to work on farms in Saudi Arabia. Qatar is also a destination for women who migrate and become involved in prostitution, but the extent to which these women are subjected to forced prostitution is unknown. Children have been used in Qatar and other Gulf countries as camel jockies. Most children are trafficked from Africa and South Asia. This practice has ceased in most areas though. Workers have been forced to work in bad conditions; their salaries are sometimes withheld.
The kafala system is a system used to monitor migrant laborers, working primarily in the construction and domestic sectors in Gulf Cooperation Council member states and a few neighboring countries, namely Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Foreign workers in Saudi Arabia, estimated to number about 9 million as of April 2013, began migrating to the country soon after oil was discovered in the late 1930s. Initially, the main influx was composed of Arab and Western technical, professional and administrative personnel, but subsequently substantial numbers came from Southeast Asia.
Women migrant workers from developing countries engage in paid employment in countries where they are not citizens. While women have traditionally been considered companions to their husbands in the migratory process, most adult migrant women today are employed in their own right. In 2017, of the 168 million migrant workers, over 68 million were women. The increase in proportion of women migrant workers since the early twentieth century is often referred to as the "feminization of migration".
Migrant workers in the United Arab Emirates describe the foreign workers who have moved to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for work. As a result of the proximity of the UAE to South Asia and a better economy and job opportunities, most of the migrant foreign workers are from India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Pakistan.
Lebanon has a gone through many stages in its absorbing of migrant workers, both before and after the Lebanese Civil War. This development has led to multiple problems regarding integration in Lebanese society. The ambiguity of the Kafala system in Lebanon has resulted in migrant domestic workers facing many legal issues and violations to their basic human rights. The government has largely been inactive and ineffective in implementing laws to protect migrant domestic workers but has attempted to manage the situation but to little avail.
Migrant workers in the Gulf Cooperation Council region involves the prevalence of migrant workers in the Kingdom of Bahrain, the State of Kuwait, the Sultanate of Oman, the State of Qatar, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Together, these six countries form the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), established in 1981. The GCC cooperates on issues related to economy and politics, and the subject of migrant workers constitutes a substantial part of the council's collaboration. All of the GCC countries are dependent on migrant labor to bolster and stimulate economic growth and development, as the GCC countries possess an abundance of capital while the domestic labor capacity is low. Although migrant workers in the Persian Gulf region amount to no more than 10% of all migrants worldwide, they constitute a significant part of the populations of their host countries.
Slavery existed in the area which was later to become Oman from antiquity until the 1970s. Oman was united with Zanzibar from the 1690s until 1856, and was a significant center of the Indian Ocean slave trade from Zanzibar in East Africa to the Arabian Peninsula and Iran, a central hub of the regional slave trade, which constituted a large part of its economy.
As the number of foreign domestic workers continues to increase around the world, social movements to protect them have begun. The increase in social movements can be attributed to the rise of globalization, increased flows of migratory workers, and issues arising from the neoliberal management of workers. Repeated complaints and demands by pro-labor movements typically revolving around issues such as minimum wage and insurance coverage can be seen. These demands usually move away from a narrative of labor disputes and begin to encompass a human-rights perspective.
For most of its history, Qatar practiced slavery until its abolition in 1952. Many members of the Afro-Arabian minority are descendants of the former slaves. Chattel slavery was succeeded by the Kafala system. The kafala system has been abolished in Qatar since December 2016.
Legal chattel Slavery existed in Saudi Arabia until the 1960s.
Almost half of international migrants are women, generally travelling as either migrant workers or refugees. Women migrant workers migrate from developing countries to high-income countries to engage in paid employment, typically in gendered professions such as domestic work. Because their work disproportionately takes place in private homes, they are vulnerable to exploitation and abuse. Wages earned are largely sent home to the originating country to support the cost of living of the family left behind.
Slavery existed in the Trucial States (1892–1971), which later formed the United Arab Emirates. The Trucial States consisted of the Sheikdoms Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Ajman, Umm Al Quwain, Fujairah, and Ras Al Khaimah. The region was mainly supplied with enslaved people from the Indian Ocean slave trade, but humans were also trafficked to the area from Hejaz, Oman and Persia. Slaves were used in the famous pearl fish industry and later in the oil industry, as well as sex slaves and domestic servants. Many members of the Afro-Arabian minority are descendants of the former slaves.
Open slavery existed in Kuwait until the 1940s. Slavery was formally abolished in Kuwait in 1949. In practice, slavery was not actually abolished as such, but the law no longer recognized it after 1949, which meant that every slave who applied for manumission was guaranteered to be freed. Many members of the Afro-Arabian minority are descendants of the former slaves. Slavery of people from Africa and East Asia was succeeded by the modern Kafala system of poor workers from the same region were slaves had previously been imported.
Open slavery existed in Bahrain until the 1930s. Slavery was formally abolished in Bahrain in 1937. Slavery ended earlier in Bahrain than in any other Gulf state, with the exception of Iran and Iraq. Many members of the Afro-Arabian minority are descendants of the former slaves. Slavery of people from Africa and East Asia was succeeded by the modern Kafala system of poor workers from the same region were slaves had previously been imported.
Slavery existed in the territory of the modern state of Syria until the 1920s.
