Samira Mohammad gets her $1000 unpaid salary

Samira Mohammed’s first message to This Is Lebanon was, “My madam is owing me five months money and she didn’t want to pay me.” She reported that the family she worked for were beating her ‘day and night’. They constantly insulted her saying she smelled bad and did not work properly and would use these as excuses to not pay her. She did not get enough to eat and would often go to bed hungry. Her employers would disconnect the wifi to prevent her from reaching family. Things reached a head when Samira had pain in her hand which prevented her performing her tasks quickly. She was beaten for not working fast enough. With 5 months salary unpaid and after 15 months of continuous abuse, Samira could take it no more and found the courage to leave them.

Unfortunately, Samira’s problems did not end there. She was picked up from the side of the road by someone who said he would help her to find a new employer. He was no Good Samaritan: he was an agent who saw in Samira a chance to make some money. He placed Samira with a new family who paid him $1600. Part of that money was supposed to go to Samira for her 5 months’ unpaid salary. Samira was unaware of the deal that had been struck between the agent and her former and current employers. The agent conveniently ‘forgot’ to pay Samira. 

The agent has dual Lebanese/Canadian citizenship. Less than twenty four hours after This Is Lebanon telling him he would be reported to the Canadian police for the crime of human trafficking, he sent Samira the $1000 she was owed. Samira returned to Ghana in May 2023.

Since the agent agreed to our negotiations and paid the worker her money, we will not reveal his name, as part of our agreement. However, This Is Lebanon continues to monitor the agent who knows that any further cases reported to us will result in a lawsuit against him in Canada and raising awareness of his abuses on our global platform.

Monitoring the malpractice of agencies that recruit migrant domestic workers is a top priority at This is Lebanon, since they are one of the root causes of domestic worker abuse including trafficking, wage theft, bonded labour and encouraging employers to engage in abusive practices.

This Is Lebanon was established in 2017 with the aim of working towards abolishing the kafala system in Lebanon. Our goal has been to raise awareness about the dangers of the kafala system by exposing the horrific conditions under which migrant domestic workers live and the perpetrators of abuse as well as advocating with and on behalf of migrant domestic workers. Ultimately, This Is Lebanon gives a voice to workers and encourages witnesses of abuse to come forward.

Kafala (the Arabic word for sponsorship) refers to the set of regulations and administrative practices used to sponsor and employ migrant workers in Lebanon, mostly women from African and Asian countries working for private households. Domestic workers are excluded from Lebanese labor law and lack basic protections. The kafala system protects abusers and denies domestic workers of basic human rights. The high degree of control over workers’ rights provided by the kafala system has led to cases of modern slavery, human trafficking, and exploitation.