Migrant workers from Kenya are camping infront of the Kenyan consulate of Beirut in a peaceful protest asking to be sent back home and calling out the consulate for its treatment to Kenyan citizens in Beirut.
Federal Government on Friday reiterated its resolve to ensure the repatriation of over 10,000 Nigerian girls who are stranded in Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Oman, and other Middle East countries.
African migrant workers in Lebanon have been suffering severely since October 2019. With the country in constant turmoil, many of them were laid off from their jobs and were left either homeless or penniless or both. Following the massive explosion that took place in Beirut and left thousands of Lebanese homeless, the country on the verge of collapse, migrant workers have been demanding to return to their home countries. But so far, all their pleas have been for nothing due to negligence and irresponsibility of consular authorities.
Forty-three Nigerian women are currently holed up in three safe houses in Beirut, Lebanon, after they were kicked out of their employers’ home where they worked as domestic workers, following a massive explosion in Lebanon on August 4.
Sri Lankan migrant workers employed in Middle Eastern countries are one of the most vulnerable groups. The recent explosion which caused a 10-kilometre radius of destruction in Beirut, Lebanon have made their situation even direr. There has been a considerable number of foreign migrant workers among the bodies dug up from the Beirut rubble. Many of the victims are thought to have been working at the port or in nearby neighbourhoods at the time of the explosion.
Seit Monaten werden die ausländischen Angestellten schon nicht mehr bezahlt. Viele wurden von ihren Arbeitgebern auf die Straße gesetzt, andere befinden sich in Zwangsarbeit. Ihre Botschaften lassen sie im Stich. Sie sitzen im Libanon fest. Nun die Explosion im Hafen von Beirut, bei der über 200 Menschen starben, über 6.000 verletzt und 300.000 Menschen obdachlos wurden. Die Meisten wollen nur noch eins, endlich nach Hause können.
Many of those killed by the Beirut explosion were migrant workers. Already a vulnerable group in Lebanon, their plight is now likely to get even worse.