OFFICIALS SEEK CLOSURE ON CASE OF AFRICAN MAID WHO HELD LEBANON’S ATTENTION

▶ National intelligence agency finds no evidence of abuse or trafficking

Lebanon’s national intelligence agency said it had found no evidence of human trafficking in the case of a domestic worker who accused her well-known employers of abuse before recanting on national television.

“It was concluded that there was no trafficking,” a spokesman for the General Security Directorate, which oversees the stays of foreigners living in Lebanon, said on Thursday.

The finding ends the state’s investigation into Lensa Lilesa, 20, who broke both legs when she either jumped or fell from the second storey of her employers’ home in March.

She had come to Lebanon from Ethiopia six months earlier to work for the family of Eleanore Ajami, who owns the fashion house Eleanore Couture.

The case drew attention to Lebanon’s kafala – sponsorship system – which critics say is tantamount to slavery because of the power it gives employers over domestic workers.

While in hospital, Ms Lilesa was visited by an aunt who also works in Lebanon and had become suspicious of her niece’s employment situation.

At the hospital, the aunt recorded Ms Lilesa detailing physical abuse by her employers. She said she had jumped from the balcony to escape and wished to return to Ethiopia.

Human rights groups and the International Labour Organisation said the case underscored Lebanon’s lack of protection for its estimated 200,000 to 300,000 foreign domestic workers, the majority of whom come from Ethiopia, Bangladesh, the Philippines and Sri Lanka.

Domestic workers are not covered by Lebanon’s labour laws and are not guaranteed payment for work, days off, or the right to leave their employer’s home. Freedom of movement, including confiscation of passports, is a major concern.

The video of Ms Lilesa describing her abuse was posted on Facebook by activists from This is Lebanon, a group that advocates for workers’ rights, after which a small demonstration took place outside Eleanore Couture’s office in Beirut.

But early this month, Ms Ajami’s daughter and a lawyer for the family appeared with Ms Lilesa on a talk show on Lebanon’s Al Jadeed channel. Strapped to a hospital bed wheeled into the studio, Ms Lilesa told the host she had lied about the abuse but repeated her desire to return to Ethiopia.

Two days later, This is Lebanon released an interview with Ms Lilesa’s aunt in which she said her niece had been put under pressure by her employers to recant her story.

Ms Lilesa is now back at her employers’ house after being discharged from hospital, since her stay in Lebanon is tied to her employer. Her aunt and others have said that Ms Lilesa had not been able to speak freely to anyone because all visits were conducted in the presence of her employers.

Ms Ajami did not return requests for comment.

“We receive complaints of abuse on a pretty regular basis,” said Bassam Khawaja, the Lebanon researcher for Human Rights Watch in Beirut.

“The kafala system gives Lebanese sponsors incredible power,” Mr Khawaja said.

“In this specific case, we’re concerned about coercion, and also that if the initial claims are true, she was being very badly abused and is now back at this family’s house.

“Her legal status in Lebanon is tied to this family – it would be incredibly difficult for her to bring a lawsuit.”

Lebanon’s Internal Security Forces, which conducted the initial investigation, said doctors had found no sign that Ms Lilesa had been abused.

“There is another worker who has been in the same house for five years and she denied all this story – two doctors also saw her and their report said there was no abuse,” an ISF spokesman said.

But Mr Khawaja said: “Unfortunately we’ve been documenting this for a long time – ISF and the judiciary don’t take these cases seriously.”

“What has been shown so far is that this is a possible case of coercion,” said Zeina Mezher, a migration specialist with the ILO in Beirut who also said that abuse was common.

“There are issues of abuse – verbal, emotional, forbidding them from communicating with their families,” Ms Mezher said. “When it comes to suicide – you take it a step further.” Ms Mezher said.

Some employers “don’t want the domestic worker to have a life – there is a report of suicide almost weekly”.

Lebanon lags behind other countries in the region that have recently passed stricter laws to protect migrant workers and domestic labour in particular, said Rothna Begum, HRW’s researcher for women’s rights in the Middle East and North Africa.