Asean Summit, Malaysia on Nov 21, 1015

Asean Summit, Malaysia  on Nov 21, 1015
Asean Establishes Landmark Economic and Security Bloc
"A Summary" – Apr 2, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Religion, Shift of Human Consciousness, 2012, Intelligent/Benevolent Design, EU, South America, 5 Currencies, Water Cycle (Heat up, Mini Ice Ace, Oceans, Fish, Earthquakes ..), Middle East, Internet, Israel, Dictators, Palestine, US, Japan (Quake/Tsunami Disasters , People, Society ...), Nuclear Power Revealed, Hydro Power, Geothermal Power, Moon, Financial Institutes (Recession, Realign integrity values ..) , China, North Korea, Global Unity,..... etc.) - Text version)

“….. Here is the prediction: China will turn North Korea loose soon. The alliance will dissolve, or become stale. There will be political upheaval in China. Not a coup and not a revolution. Within the inner circles of that which you call Chinese politics, there will be a re-evaluation of goals and monetary policy. Eventually, you will see a break with North Korea, allowing still another dictator to fall and unification to occur with the south. ….”

“ … Here is another one. A change in what Human nature will allow for government. "Careful, Kryon, don't talk about politics. You'll get in trouble." I won't get in trouble. I'm going to tell you to watch for leadership that cares about you. "You mean politics is going to change?" It already has. It's beginning. Watch for it. You're going to see a total phase-out of old energy dictatorships eventually. The potential is that you're going to see that before 2013.

They're going to fall over, you know, because the energy of the population will not sustain an old energy leader ..."
"Update on Current Events" – Jul 23, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: The Humanization of God, Gaia, Shift of Human Consciousness, 2012, Benevolent Design, Financial Institutes (Recession, System to Change ...), Water Cycle (Heat up, Mini Ice Ace, Oceans, Fish, Earthquakes ..), Nuclear Power Revealed, Geothermal Power, Hydro Power, Drinking Water from Seawater, No need for Oil as Much, Middle East in Peace, Persia/Iran Uprising, Muhammad, Israel, DNA, Two Dictators to fall soon, Africa, China, (Old) Souls, Species to go, Whales to Humans, Global Unity,..... etc.)
(Subjects: Who/What is Kryon ?, Egypt Uprising, Iran/Persia Uprising, Peace in Middle East without Israel actively involved, Muhammad, "Conceptual" Youth Revolution, "Conceptual" Managed Business, Internet, Social Media, News Media, Google, Bankers, Global Unity,..... etc.)









North Korean defector criticises China in rare Beijing talk

North Korean defector criticises China in rare Beijing talk
North Korean defector and activist Hyeonseo Lee, who lives in South Korea, poses as she presents her book 'The Girl with Seven Names: A North Korean Defector’s Story' in Beijing on March 26, 2016 (AFP Photo/Fred Dufour)

US under fire in global press freedom report

"The Recalibration of Awareness – Apr 20/21, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Old Energy, Recalibration Lectures, God / Creator, Religions/Spiritual systems (Catholic Church, Priests/Nun’s, Worship, John Paul Pope, Women in the Church otherwise church will go, Current Pope won’t do it), Middle East, Jews, Governments will change (Internet, Media, Democracies, Dictators, North Korea, Nations voted at once), Integrity (Businesses, Tobacco Companies, Bankers/ Financial Institutes, Pharmaceutical company to collapse), Illuminati (Started in Greece, with Shipping, Financial markets, Stock markets, Pharmaceutical money (fund to build Africa, to develop)), Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Women, Masters to/already come back, Global Unity.... etc.) - (Text version)

… The Shift in Human Nature

You're starting to see integrity change. Awareness recalibrates integrity, and the Human Being who would sit there and take advantage of another Human Being in an old energy would never do it in a new energy. The reason? It will become intuitive, so this is a shift in Human Nature as well, for in the past you have assumed that people take advantage of people first and integrity comes later. That's just ordinary Human nature.

In the past, Human nature expressed within governments worked like this: If you were stronger than the other one, you simply conquered them. If you were strong, it was an invitation to conquer. If you were weak, it was an invitation to be conquered. No one even thought about it. It was the way of things. The bigger you could have your armies, the better they would do when you sent them out to conquer. That's not how you think today. Did you notice?

Any country that thinks this way today will not survive, for humanity has discovered that the world goes far better by putting things together instead of tearing them apart. The new energy puts the weak and strong together in ways that make sense and that have integrity. Take a look at what happened to some of the businesses in this great land (USA). Up to 30 years ago, when you started realizing some of them didn't have integrity, you eliminated them. What happened to the tobacco companies when you realized they were knowingly addicting your children? Today, they still sell their products to less-aware countries, but that will also change.

What did you do a few years ago when you realized that your bankers were actually selling you homes that they knew you couldn't pay for later? They were walking away, smiling greedily, not thinking about the heartbreak that was to follow when a life's dream would be lost. Dear American, you are in a recession. However, this is like when you prune a tree and cut back the branches. When the tree grows back, you've got control and the branches will grow bigger and stronger than they were before, without the greed factor. Then, if you don't like the way it grows back, you'll prune it again! I tell you this because awareness is now in control of big money. It's right before your eyes, what you're doing. But fear often rules. …

Children Day

Children Day

Search This Blog

Friday, July 1, 2011

Migrant Workers' Rights in Lebanon: The Need for a New Mentality

Jurist, Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Megan McKee, University of Pittsburgh School of Law Class of 2012, worked as a legal researcher for the Centre for International Sustainable Development Law and is currently working in Lebanon. She writes about the need for greater rights for migrant workers in that country, especially for those employed as domestic workers...

It is estimated that there are some 50 to 100 million domestic workers worldwide. The vast majority of these workers are young girls and women, and a large percentage of them are migrants. They serve as nannies, housekeepers, cooks, and caregivers who are most densely concentrated in the Middle East and Asia. Since they are often excluded from workers' and laborers' rights schemes, they often suffer from unpaid wages, excessive hours, little time off, and a high frequency of physical and sexual abuse, making them some of the most exploited workers in the world. Additionally, their status as young, impoverished, foreign females, further contributes to their vulnerability and marginalization.

During its annual conference this month, the International Labor Organization adopted a historic treaty that aims to create an international standard for protecting the rights of migrant domestic workers for the first time. The Convention on Domestic Workers [PDF] strives to establish standards that bring the rights of domestic workers in line with the rights more commonly enjoyed by individuals who are employed outside the home. The convention states that domestic workers must work reasonable hours, must have a weekly rest of at least 24 consecutive hours, limits in-kind payment, requires clear information on terms of employment, a minimum wage, and basic rights such as freedom of association and collective bargaining.

The adoption of the treaty by most delegates from Arab nations was remarkable due to both the large number of migrant domestic workers employed in the region and their previous opposition to the convention. Previously viewing the effort as unnecessary and impractical, suggesting that workers employed in the home were treated as members of the family, the delegates' change of heart signals an important and necessary step toward the radical change in thinking that must take place regarding the rights of domestic workers. However, despite supporting the convention, the delegates quite aptly highlighted challenges to ratification, implementation, and enforcement in their respective countries.

Last year, Human Rights Watch (HRW) released a 54-page report entitled "Without Protection" that detailed the treatment of migrant domestic workers in Lebanon. It uncovered a particularly grim reality for the nation's estimated 225,000 migrant workers hailing from Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Ethiopia, and Bangladesh, among others. The report reviewed over 100 judicial decisions concerning various complaints made by migrant domestic workers and did not find a single instance in which employers that had forcibly confined workers to the house, confiscated their passports, or denied them food were actually charged with a crime. It further found that the lack of a viable and accessible complaint reporting mechanism, lengthy judicial proceedings, and a restrictive visa policy further discouraged many from pursing or even reporting abuses of their rights in the first place. Based on the cases reviewed, HRW estimated that criminal claims took an average of 24 months to resolve, that complaints for unpaid wages took between 21 and 54 months, and that even simplified complaints made in labor courts took an average of 32 months. Additionally, under Lebanon's work visa sponsorship system, a worker who leaves an employer, even to file a legally viable complaint, forfeits her right to stay in Lebanon and faces potential detention and deportation as an illegal alien.

Nonetheless, to say that abuse is not prosecuted altogether would be incorrect. For instance, some cases of severe abuse have been prosecuted but they continue to be rare and unfailingly result in lenient sentences. For example, in a widely hailed case from December 2009, an employer was convicted of repeatedly beating her domestic worker. However, the sentence was only 15 days. In another similar case from June 2010, a Lebanese criminal court issued what appears to be the most severe sentence to date to an employer who repeatedly beat and forcibly confined her domestic worker to the house. Yet the sentence was just one month.

Perhaps a testament to the harsh working conditions in Lebanon is the HRW finding that on average more than one migrant domestic worker dies every week, either as a result of suicide or during an attempt to escape from the high-rise apartments their employers confine them to. The Filipino government's 2007 decision to ban their citizens from working in Lebanon is another testament to the subpar conditions workers face. Likewise, nations such as Sri Lanka and Indonesia have introduced significant measures to better protect their citizens employed as domestic workers in Lebanon.

Lebanon has made attempts to ameliorate the situation through legislation. For example, it recently adopted measures to regulate employment agencies and to adopt a mandatory standardized contract that would include provisions such as at least one day off a week. Furthermore, the Lebanese Ministers of Labor and the Interior recently brought the situation to the attention of the parliament with promises of reform. However, while currently marked by relative calm compared to much of the Middle East, Lebanon has dealt with a series of disputes, setbacks, and political changes that have left the central government paralyzed since January. Accordingly, attempts at reform have languished and the measures seeking to regulate employment agencies and standardize contracts still need to be implemented properly.

Nevertheless, legal discussions, attempted legislative reform, and even the ratification of international treaties is arguably simple in comparison to fomenting the radical change in thinking that the region needs to undergo in order to see these reforms implemented. In Lebanon, conventional wisdom dictates that domestic workers are little more than servants attached to a household. As such, they are accorded very little respect. Their personal rights and freedoms even less so.

For example, it is widely accepted in Lebanon that the initial investment an employer makes in bringing domestic workers into the country justifies restrictions in the workers' movement, both through confiscating their travel documents and through confining them to the house. This is viewed as rightfully limiting the employer's risk of loss as it makes it virtually impossible for the worker to run away. This mentality makes the complete forfeiture of the freedom of movement one of the normative expectations of the job, and it is even prevalent among employers that generally treat their domestic employees well in other ways. It is particularly common in the early stages of employment before some level of trust has been established between employer and employee.

While the existence of more extreme forms of abuse are concerning and should be taken seriously, the more pervasive and alarming issue in Lebanon is the fact that otherwise relatively humane individuals, who would never physically harm an employee, think nothing of practices that are most certainly still forms of abuse. This is derivative of a mentality in Lebanon, and the region in general, which condones the substandard and inhumane treatment of these workers. This mentality arises from prejudice, a disdain for poverty, and what is viewed as degrading work. The failure of both the nation's police and prosecutors to take instances of physical violence against migrant domestic workers seriously, often turning a blind eye to it altogether, and the failure of the nation's lawmakers to effectively implement protections and accord rights to migrant domestic workers, serves to demonstrate the widespread and pervasive nature of this mentality.

What is encouraging, however, are several recent events that suggest a trend towards a more humane view of domestic workers in Lebanon. Just a week after the Arab delegates to the ILO conference supported the adoption of the convention, the UN Country Team in Lebanon adopted a voluntary code of conduct reflecting many of the convention's principles. This code was intended to set a trend in the region and will be followed by all UN staff in Lebanon. Even more suggestive of a changing mentality are the many grassroots efforts raising awareness and providing much needed services and education to migrant workers. This trend can be witnessed in the proliferation of blogs and Facebook groups, and in the activities of local NGOs that serve as safe havens and centers for education and socialization.

It appears that at least a portion of Lebanese society, and perhaps a sizable portion of the younger generation, are beginning to develop a more humane view of domestic workers. This will hopefully carry over to law enforcement officials and labor inspectors, aiding them in identifying and seriously prosecuting violations against domestic workers. With any luck, it will also encourage Lebanon's parliament to seriously reform the sponsorship system and properly implement the regulations that have already been adopted.

Megan McKee is the head of JURIST's student commentary service. She is a recent graduate of McGill University, where she completed an honors major in Hispanic Studies and a major in International Development Studies. Megan has also worked for the Social Justice Committee of Montreal on issues of social justice and the rights of domestic and migrant workers.

Suggested Citation: Megan McKee, Migrant Workers' Rights in Lebanon: The Need for a New Mentality, JURIST—Dateline, June 29, 2011, http://jurist.org/dateline/2011/06/megan-mckee-migrant-workers.php.


No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.