Lebanese Woman Nationality Rights

Migrant Domestic Workers in ADs

This is a new advertisement from Money Gram, intended at being funny. In one of the videos, it shows a Filipino man speaking with a Lebanese man and in the other video the Lebanese woman is speaking to a Srilankan. Reality is in both videos, it is a voice over by a Lebanese man making fun of the 2 accents. These jokes are very common in Lebanon, where it is also a common thing to call all migrant domestic women, regardless of their 15 possible nationalities, “Srilankiyi”. It is no more a nationality. It has become a noun in Lebanese context.

It is important to always remember that the situation of migrant domestic workers in Lebanon is severely in crisis not just because of the non-existent labour rights for them but also because of rampant levels of racism.

A blogger reports about this ad here here.

Abused Lebanese women fall victim to legal system | Voice of the Copts

It was only a few months after their wedding in Lebanon that Suha’s husband began what would be eight years of brutal beatings that left her bruised, bleeding and all but broken.

But two years ago, she decided to take matters — and her three children — into her own hands, in a country that has yet to pass a bill criminalizing domestic abuse and marital rape and where women are banned from granting their children citizenship.

“For many years I was stuck and felt I had no choice but to suffer in silence,” Suha, 31 and now divorced, told AFP, asking that her real name not be used.

“I could not go back to my parents’ home because to them, divorce would bring shame to the family and they could not take me in with three children,” she added.

Suha, a Sunni Muslim, was granted divorce by clergy of her husband’s Shiite Muslim faith after she provided the court with a medical report showing she had been beaten within an inch of her life.

Her case is by no means unique in Lebanon, where a bill criminalizing domestic abuse and marital rape has sparked the ire of religious authorities.

Lebanon is widely considered to be the most liberal country in the conservative Arab world, having granted suffrage to women before Egypt, Tunisia and even Switzerland.

But it was not until this month that parliament annulled a clause that allowed for “extenuating circumstances” in honor killings, or the murder of women or girls for bringing “dishonor” to their families.

The domestic abuse bill has yet to be adopted, as women’s rights groups raise the alarm that the issue could turn into yet another political tug-of-war between feuding Lebanese political parties.

While the bill was submitted to parliament for study in June, the 128-strong legislative house has postponed voting on the law as clerics pull the stops on the bill.

The head of the parliamentary commission tasked with studying the domestic abuse law has said he expects parliament to vote on it by the end of August.

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