Ivory Coast-based Koaci.com has learned that a young Ivorian woman was found dead after having been reportedly pushed off the 6th floor of an apartment following a suspected feud with her sponsor concerning her salary payment. The following is an English translation of the original French which can be found here. A graphic image of the victim can be found at the end of the post. Viewer discretion is advised.

The text states:

“A young Ivorian woman of around 20 years old was found dead after having been reportedly pushed off the 6th floor of a building for demanding her salary in Beirut, Lebanon. 

This was reported to Koaci.com by a young Cameroonian woman, after the revelations by her sister, who is a neighbor of the victim. 

According to her neighbor, whose name can’t be revealed, the young victim was pushed out of the 6th floor of a building in Asharfir – Note: She might have meant Achrafieh -, a neighborhood in the city of Beirut in Lebanon on Tuesday the 1st of July.

She was asking for her salary and the man, refusing, apparently pushed her out of anger. 

This young expatriate reportedly left the Ivory Coast years ago to work as a domestic worker in Lebanon, a common scenario for many young Ivorian women.

Stories such as this one are unfortunately very common in Lebanon.

A few months ago, after a revelation by Koaci.com that a group of African women were being tortured, they were successfully repatriated from Lebanon.” – Note: this was covered in a previous post.

On the website Congo Synthese, the name of the neighbor was revealed to be Migginawa Hamann who posted on Facebook the following:

“I would first like to ask my Cameroonian sisters who are always promised paradise in that country [Lebanon] that once you’re there, it is hell. Women are tortured all the time.”

I ask the Lebanese authorities to launch an immediate investigation into this case and to hold the criminal responsible for his actions.

As most of you know, this is not a rare occurrence in Lebanon. Many migrant workers fall victims to the Kafala system which seriously limits most of their human rights and opens up the door to exploitation of the worst kind. As explained by Human Rights Watch in its 2014 report on Lebanon:

“Migrant domestic workers are excluded from the labor law and subject to restrictive immigration rules based on employer-specific sponsorship—the kafala system—which put workers at risk of exploitation and abuse. While outgoing Labor Minister Charbel Nahhas announced in January 2012 that he would look at abolishing the kafala system, in 2013 Labor Minister Salim Jreissati failed to do so or to put forward legislation that would protect the estimated 200,000 migrant domestic workers in the country. In July, a criminal court sentenced an employer to two months in prison, imposed a fine, and required her to pay damages and compensation to a migrant domestic worker whose wages she had not paid for years. Migrant domestic workers suing their employers for abuse continue, however, to face legal obstacles and risk imprisonment and deportation due to the restrictive visa system.”

I have reported on a few on them over the years and they can be found under the “Racism & Labor Rights” category.

The Kafala system must be abolished.