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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.
Historically, the institution of slavery in the region of the later Lebanon was reflected in the institution of slavery in the Rashidun Caliphate (632–661) slavery in the Umayyad Caliphate (661–750), slavery in the Abbasid Caliphate (750–1258), slavery in the Mamluk Sultanate (1258–1517) and finally slavery in the Ottoman Empire (1517–1918).
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) girls for the rich. [1] Eunuchs 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 in response to Western pressure. The Firman of 1830 officially mandated liberation of white slaves; the Suppression of the slave trade in the Persian Gulf (1847) banned the import of African slaves via the Persian Gulf route; the Prohibition of the Circassian and Georgian slave trade (1854–1855) banned the import of white slaves; the Prohibition of the Black Slave Trade (1857) banned the import of African slaves regardless of route; and the Anglo-Ottoman Convention of 1880 gave the British permission to search all suspected slave ships on route to Ottoman harbours. [2] Further more, the Disestablishment of the Istanbul Slave Market (1847), which closed the open slave market in the Ottoman capital, in practice advised the other Ottoman cities to remove the open slave markets indoors to conduct slave trade more discreetly. These laws were however not strictly enforced in the Ottoman provinces in practice. [3] Islamic law permitted slave trade, which made it difficult to enforce the laws. Further, while the open slave trade was progressively more restricted, slavery itself remained legal.
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]
The Anti-slavery Society reported in the late 1870s concerning Beirut:
The Prohibition of the Black Slave Trade had formally banned the import of African slaves in 1857, which gave the British an oportunity to interfere in the slave trade. The British Consul-General in Beirut attempted to interfere in the slave trade in Beirut, but rarely with success, since slavery as such was not banned. [5] On one occasion, the Consul Mr. J. Eldridge made an attempt to liberate a "negro lad" who had fell victim to the slave trade, and the case took six months before he finally succeeded. [6]
It was noted that runaway slaves, mostly "negresses", sought refuge at the British Consulate in this period, but that there was in practice very little he was legally able to do to help, and that he was often forced to hand over the slave to the Ottoman authorities, who then returned her to her enslaver: "All he can do is to bring the matter to the knowledge of the local authorities, deliver the poor creature to them, and ask them to do her justice, which request is always met with kind, but vague, promises. When once the vicitm is given up to the officer in charge she is sure either to return to her masters house, were she is kept under double custody, but if she should escapte again, or in case of her master not wishing to keep her anymore, she is sent to a neighbouring city to be sold." [7]
By the late 19th-century, almost all slaves in Beirut where of African origin, since all other slave routes had been stopped by then. An exception was the Circassian slave trade, that still supplied rich men in Beirut with a small minority of white slaves. The Anti-slavery Society reported from Beirut 25 January 1877:
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. [9]
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. [10]
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. [11] 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. [12] A change in situation came about with the arrival of African and Asian migrant workers. The first migrants arrived in the late 1970s. [13] 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. [14]
The migrants, mostly from Sri Lanka and Philippine, arrived together in large groups through both illegal and semi-legal channels. [12]
 | Parts of this article (those related to Kafala system) need to be updated.(July 2024) |
The Kafala system involves a sponsor who has the legal responsibility for a migrant domestic worker during a contract period, [15] making the worker dependent upon the sponsor. The Kafala system is not legally binding in Lebanon because recruiters cannot act as a sponsor. [16] 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. [17] . 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. [18] 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, [19] while Anti-Slavery International has said that the system is one of the major causes of vulnerability of migrant workers. [20] 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. [21]
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. [22]
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. [23]
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.
Slavery in the Ottoman Empire was a major institution and a significant part of the Ottoman Empire's economy and traditional society.
The kafala system is a system that exists in many Arab countries in the Middle East, including most of the nations on the Arabian Peninsula, which involves binding migrant workers to a specific employer throughout the period of their residence in a country. The same system existed in Israel under the label "binding labour", until that country's supreme court eliminated it in 2006.
The history of slavery in the Muslim world began with institutions inherited from pre-Islamic Arabia.
Lebanon has gone through many stages in its absorption 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.
Legal chattel 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. However, concerns still remain about workers' rights and employers retaining considerable power over workers.
Legal Chattel slavery existed in Saudi Arabia until the 1960s.
The Black Sea slave trade trafficked people across the Black Sea from Europe and the Caucasus to slavery in the Mediterranean and the Middle East. The Black Sea slave trade was a center of the slave trade between Europe and the rest of the world from antiquity until the 19th century. One of the major and most significant slave trades of the Black Sea region was the trade of the Crimean Khanate, known as the Crimean slave trade.
Slavery existed in the Sultanate of Zanzibar until 1909. Slavery and slave trade existed in the Zanzibar Archipelago for at least a thousand years. When clove and coconut plantations became a big industry on the islands, domestic slavery expanded to a point where two thirds of the populations were slaves. Zanzibar was internationally known as a major player in the Indian Ocean slave trade, where slaves from the Swahili coast of Eastern Africa were trafficked across the Indian Ocean to Oman in the Arabian Peninsula during the Zanzibar slave trade.
Slavery in Egypt existed up until the early 20th century. It differed from the previous slavery in ancient Egypt, being managed in accordance with Islamic law from the conquest of the Caliphate in the 7th century until the practice stopped in the early 20th-century, having been gradually phased out when the slave trade was banned in the late 19th century. British pressure led to the abolishment of slavery trade successively between 1877 and 1884. Slavery itself was not abolished, but it gradually died out after the abolition of the slave trade, since no new slaves could be legally acquired, and excisting slaves where given the right to apply for freedom. Existing slaves were noted as late as the 1930s.
Chattel 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 chattel slavery existed in Kuwait until 1949. 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 Iraq until the 1920s.
Slavery existed in the territory of the modern state of Syria until the 1920s.
The Kanunname of 1889 was a kanunname issued by Sultan Abdul Hamid II on 30 December 1889. It prohibited the importation and sale of African slaves from foreign lands to the Empire. It was introduced due to British diplomatic pressure in anticipation of the Brussels Anti-Slavery Conference 1889–90. The law included the previous anti-slavery decrees in to one code of law. It was the first anti-slavery law that was actually enforced in the Ottoman Empire, and resulted in a reduction of the slave trade.
The Suppression of the slave trade in the Persian Gulf, refers to the Imperial Firman or Ferman (Decree) issued by Sultan Abdülmecid I in 1847. It formally prohibited the import of African slaves to Ottoman territory via the Indian Ocean slave trade of the Persian Gulf. The decree did not address the other slave trade routes trafficking slaves to the Empire.
