BEIRUT, Lebanon, Sept. 16 (UPI) -- The rights of migrant workers in Lebanon are widely ignored by its judicial system, the watchdog group Human Rights Watch said in a report.
"By turning a blind eye to violations affecting domestic workers, Lebanon's police and judiciary are complicit in the ongoing violations by employers against this vulnerable group," Nadim Houry, Beirut director of Human Rights Watch said Thursday.
The 54-page report, "Without Protection: How the Lebanese Justice System Fails Migrant Domestic Workers," said migrant workers don't have proper complaint mechanisms, they face long judicial procedures when a complaint is lodged and police and the courts regularly fail to treat certain abuses against domestic workers as crimes.
The group said it examined 114 cases, but didn't find a single example in which an employer faced charges for locking workers inside their homes, withholding food, or confiscating passports.
The report said such cases could take months, if not years, to be heard, and that migrant workers filing them lose the right to live in Lebanon, and face potential detention and deportation.
Even employers who kill workers often get away with lean sentences, the group alleged.
It cited a 1999 case where a criminal court sentenced a man convicted of beating an employee to death to 18 months in jail.
