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Publications.
2020    Ray Jureidini and Said Hassan (eds) Migration and Islamic Ethics: Issues of Residence, Naturalization and Citizenship, Leiden/Boston, Brill Publications.

2014    Jureidini, Ray Migrant Labor Recruitment to Qatar, Bloomsbury/Qatar Foundation, Doha, Qatar.

2003     Jureidini, R. and Poole, M. (eds) (principle editor)

Sociology: Australian Connections: Third Edition, Allen & Unwin, Sydney

2000    Jureidini, R. and Poole, M. (eds) (principle editor)

Sociology: Australian Connections: Second Edition, Allen & Unwin, Sydney

1997    Jureidini, R. and Poole, M. (eds) (principle editor)

Sociology: Australian Connections, Allen & Unwin, Sydney

1995     Jureidini, R. (eds) Labour, Unemployment and Democratic Rights, Conference Proceedings, Deakin University, Geelong, Victoria, Australia

Migrant Domestic Workers in Lebanon
According to Jureidini, Since the nineteenth century, Lebanon has been thought of more as a country of emigrants rather than as a destination for migrants. However, despite the continuing flight of Lebanese from their home country, for political, economic and other reasons, Lebanon has become, similar to the Arab Gulf states, a country of destination for non-Arab migration. Following the civil war (1975-1990) and throughout the 1990s, apart from the large ‘foreign’ presence of some 400,000 Palestinians and another 400,000 or so largely undocumented Syrian workers, Lebanon began to allow the entry of large numbers of female domestic workers, primarily from Sri Lanka, but also from the Philippines, Ethiopia, and other African countries.

The demand for these workers to live in Lebanese middle and upper-class families to do most of the work had already existed before, what was different in the 1990s according to Jureidini was the supplanting of Arab-domestic workers with non-Arab women mostly from Asia and principally from Sri Lanka and the Philippines. To some extent, in contrast to the Gulf states, the attraction of Asian female domestic maids in Lebanon was due to the aftermath of the sectarian conflict that created a distrustful reluctance to employ anyone from another sector nationality (eg. Palestinians). At the same time, there was, and continues to be, an unwillingness by local Lebanese nationals themselves to provide such menial services to the households of sects other than their own, but it also comes with the recent racialization of menial work where Jureidini notes, this kind of work has been designated to a position occupied by a Sri Lankan even when it is another migrant worker from another country not necessarily Sri Lanka.

According to the survey conducted in Lebanon in 2005-2006, migrant domestic workers were estimated to be around 160,000 with 100,000 from Sri Lanka, 30,000 from the Philippines and 30,000 from Ethiopia

Recruitment
Domestic migrant workers in Lebanon are contracted by Private Agencies in Lebanon who contract with recruitment agencies in origin countries and then employers contract with and pay the Lebanese agents (between $1,500-$3,000) and the employee signs a contract with the employer. Jureidini acknowledges the role that private recruitment agencies play in the interconnected regions of Asia and Arab states as prominent market mediators in a globalized process of recruiting and dispatching workers across national borders.

Although some of these private agencies are legally allowed to operate, some are operating illegally. The regulation and monitoring of recruitment and placement agencies by the government has been a problem since the civil war and it is not clear what criteria the government requires to issue an agency license. According to Jureidini, with over 310 licensed agents in Lebanon, only around 44 are operating as genuine agents with an office and staff. Thus 266 agents hold licenses but do not deal directly in the procurement and placement of migrant domestic workers into households. Instead, they operate from a cellular phone selling their quota to active agencies.

Jureidini notes that because of limited regulation by the government in Lebanon like any other country in the Middle East, many fraudulent practices take place during the recruitment process of low skilled migrant workers, also domestic workers in Lebanon, payment of recruitment fees by these workers is one of the practices that occur in the recruitment process which leaves the domestic workers extremely vulnerable. Jureidini notes that low-skilled migrant workers intending to migrate take loans from money lenders and their recruitment agencies at high-interest rates, sell family assets and use their savings in order to pay the recruitment charges. This leaves them indebted to these companies and even exposes them to abuse and exploitation by the employers and recruitment companies. These practices are contrary to the International standards pertaining to human and labour rights and have been criticized heavily internationally. This is one challenge that the International Labour Organization launched a global “Fair Recruitment Initiative” to help prevent human trafficking, protect the rights of workers especially from abusive and fraudulent practices during the recruitment process, and reduce the cost of migration for the workers and their families as well as for countries of origin and destination.

Upon arrival in Lebanon, domestic migrant workers are placed to their employers who contract with the agencies and they sign a contract. The standard ‘‘Contract of Employment for Domestic Helpers from Sri Lanka in the Middle East Countries’’ stipulates the salary, working hours ‘‘not exceeding 12 staggered hours per day’’; that the employer is to provide free passage to and from Sri Lanka; that arrangement and payment of the visa ⁄work permit is the responsibility of the employer along with suitable living quarters and adequate food, medical services (health insurance is compulsory by law); conditions of termination. ‘‘Special provisions’’ prohibit the employee from being required to work anywhere other than in the employer’s residence; and the requirement that the employer ‘‘shall treat the employee in a just and humane manner. In no case shall physical violence be used upon the employee.’’

Jureidini notes that even these contractual agreements have been violated by the employers and the private recruitment companies. There are incidences where contracts have also been substituted by employers upon arrival to the destination country.

Abuse and Exploitation
The governance of migrant domestic workers in Lebanon is regulated by the kafala. System of sponsorship where migrant workers obtain a visa that places them under the responsibility of a sponsor or (kafeel) who assumes full economic and legal responsibility over the worker. The sponsorship system produces the antithesis of a free labour market; foreign workers cannot legally abandon the problematic sponsor and cannot flee the country. The system has been criticized for the highly unequal relations it establishes between the worker and the sponsor. This makes the workers vulnerable to human rights abuses perpetrated against them. According to Jureidini, “the structural conditions and lack of rights of temporary contract workers who are neither covered by the local labour laws nor ratified international conventions renders them vulnerable to abuse and exploitation”.

According to Jureidini foreign workers may be subjected to physical, sexual, psychological and or emotional abuse. Workers report to have been shouted at, belittled and even denied food. There have been cases where locks were put on refrigerators and in one case an alarm was installed. Employees may be belittled on a daily basis, such as with name-calling (Hmara, or “donkey” is the most common term used). These abuse mostly is done by the “madam” of the house.

Another form of violence and threat of violence comes from recruitment agencies. Employees who are procured through these agencies are usually ‘guaranteed’ by the agency and will be replaced within the first three months if she is deemed unsuitable. However, it is common knowledge that if an employer returns the maid to the agency, there is a strong likelihood that she will be punished in some way as a disciplinary measure. Reports of serious physical abuse by agencies, bordering on torture, have been revealed.

The most common is the practice of withholding the passports and other identity papers that are mostly held by the employer and sometimes by the agency. This prevents the workers even from fleeing the violence from their employers.

Jureidini notes that most recruiters or agencies advise their clients not to allow their workers to move anywhere unaccompanied by someone. This, they argue is to maintain control over her so she will not speak to other maids and then demand more wages or run away. There is also an assumption that they are inexperienced and need to be protected from ‘bad influences’. She might engage in sexual relations and get AIDS or become pregnant and would need to be sent home (abortions are one alternative, but it is not an issue discussed). This is a violation of human rights.

Domestic migrant workers are also exposed to exploitative working conditions. According to research with Sri Lankan women, when asked to name the tasks they perform, they answered “everything”. The average length of the workday is between 16 and 17 hours and they are often “on-call” 24 hours a day, particularly if there are babies in the family. They rarely have days off and some never have a day off. Jureidini notes that denial of time off and holidays to domestic workers is an indicator of slavery-like practice.

Another common practice as reported by the domestic migrant workers is withholding of wages. There have been cases where maids have worked for up to 6 years without being paid. Some have wanted to return home after their two or three-year contract but could be prevented from doing so by their employer, if wages are withheld or if their permits had not been renewed.