Negotiations Result in Tigist* Receiving $5,000

There is something to celebrate in Tigist’s* story: she received $5,000 out of the $9000 she was owed. Recovering her unpaid salary didn’t come without its struggles and frustrations. TIL conducted negotiations for seventeen months with various members of the employers’ family as the worker patiently waited for updates - together, we went through periods of hopefulness and hopelessness. In September 2023, Tigist returned back to her homeland, Ethiopia.

This is her story:

Tigist arrived in Lebanon in 2014 at the age of 23 and ended up working for an employer whose husband was imprisoned for counterfeiting money. Her employer kept reassuring Tigist that once he was released she would get paid, but this was far from the truth. She had worked with them for around 7 years and had only received $4000. She was locked in and only allowed very rare contact with the outside world via her employer’s phone.

She was then taken to work in her employer’s parent’s house where she was offered $100 per month. Given her desperate situation, she had no option but to accept. Where could she go? Her passport had expired, she had no residency permit and was lured to stay by the promise that one day she would receive all her unpaid salary.

The protracted negotiations resulted in Tigist being paid $5000 and she does not wish to pursue payment of the $4000 she is still owed, instead she wants to close this chapter in her life and move on. We understand and respect Tigist’s decision to close her case.

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The worker has requested her identity to be changed.

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.