FEATURE
the house in the cases of abuse, their
names get publicly exposed on social
media.’
At first this tactic was simply ignored
by employers. But as This is Lebanon’s
Facebook page grew in popularity, it
has become more effective. ‘We sort out
around 50 per cent of reported cases of
abuse without needing to go public,’ says
Uprety. ‘But sometimes we are left with
no other choice.’
Take the case of Halima, a Filipino
domestic worker who began working for
her Lebanese employer in 2007. Hearing
nothing more from her after her arrival
in Lebanon, her family tried contacting
her employers through the Philippine
Embassy and the local recruiting agency,
but to no avail.
For 10 long years Halima’s family
didn’t receive any news as she was forbid-
den by her employers to leave the house
or use a phone.
Not knowing if she was alive or dead,
the family contacted This is Lebanon,
who ran a socia-media campaign against
her employers, asking for her release.
The campaign caught the attention of
international media and finally, caving
under public pressure, the family allowed
Halima to return to the Philippines,
albeit without payment for her 10 years
of enslavement.
‘To date we have rescued 41 migrant
domestic workers from abusive situations
and we are working on 95 other cases,’
says Uprety. ‘We have had 1,492 workers
contacting us for help over the last two
years. More than five messages from
workers in need land on our Facebook
page daily.’
Uprety, once himself a migrant worker
in Lebanon, now lives in Canada under
permanent protection status. He was
detained for six months in Lebanon after
challenging his employer for not legalizing
his residency status. ‘I went to the police,
reporting my employer for the abusive
situation I was in. The police called him in
and I was the one to get handcuffed.’According to Uprety, This is Lebanon
would have no reason to exist if migrant
workers were able to genuinely access
the country’s judicial system.
However, as effective as their tactics
have been, they have also angered
certain segments of the Lebanese public,
drawing accusations of unjustly defam-
ing employers as well as the damaging
reputation of the country. Tony Khalife,
a prominent Lebanese television pre-
senter, went as far as describing This is
Lebanon as a ‘mafia-styled gang organ-
izing blackmailing campaigns to extort
money from people’.
Uprety points out that blackmail and
extortion rely on unwarranted demands,
not on calls to stop abuse or be com-
pensated for money owed. Nonetheless,
publicly naming and shaming without
a judicial verdict remains problematic,
risking defamation if false claims are
made. However, Farah Salka, executive
director of the Anti-Racism Movement
in Beirut, cautions against condemning
This is Lebanon on these grounds.
‘Critics should first look at the failures56 NEW INTERNATIONALIST
A Madagascan domestic worker sits outside the
apartment she shares with other women.