LEBANON, A DESTINATION OF 'NO RETURN' FOR FOREIGN DOMESTIC WORKERS

 Sad tale of foreign domestic workers in Lebanon

By Media Client

OPINION

Lebanese republic in western Asia with a population of more  than 6 million people is gradually becoming one of the deadliest places for foreign domestic workers to travel to and work.

It is estimated that an average of two workers die weekly from abuse and ill treatments meted on them by their employers, and that's according to Lebanon's Intelligence agency.

But rights organisation fear the figure could be more than that under a Lebanese law which allows employers to have total possession of their employees. Many foreign domestic workers have been known to have committed suicide after torturous encounters leave them with no escape route.

The primitive kafala system also known as sponsored migration system has become a refuge for many abusive Lebanese to hide under and commit heinous crime against foreign workers without been charged.

FIND ARIWOLO OLAMIDE  TEMITOPE

Presently, a Nigerian lady identified as Ariwolo Olamide Temitope is thought to be caught in the web of these abusive kafala system.

According to media reports, the 31-year,-old Temitope was prevented from boarding an evacuation flight back to Nigeria, after her employer insisted that her contract still subsists.

Earlier this week, Nigeria's foreign Affairs minister Geoffrey Onyeama announced that 50 trafficked women have safely returned back to Nigeria from Lebanon.

Interestingly Temitope made it to the airport but never got into the repatriation flight. Apparently she is still held in Lebanon under the inhuman arbitrary kafala law.

Temitope's case is one that must not be allowed to be swept under the carpet without thorough investigations by relevant agencies of government in Nigeria saddled with the responsibilies of diaspora affairs.

In March, a 25 -year-old Ghanian domestic worker Tay Faustina was  found dead under the fourth-storey building of her employer, in what looks like a suicide case according to investigators.

This was 18 hours after Faustina released an audio recording where she sounded jittery and fear for her life.

These testimonies and ugly experiences goes to show the need for Africa's ruling elites to shape and mould a society that is habitable enough for its citizenry to live in.

The death toll outside the shores of Africa is alarming, most victims are found to be those that should be the continent's pride, the younger generation.

Many young people from the horn of Africa suffer abuses from the hands of smugglers and traffickers with promises of better lives in Asia and Europe.

Its time for Africa leaders to take responsibility for the well-being of the continent.