Lebanese cleric defends abused Pinoys, other foreign domestics

MANILA, Philippines - A senior Shiite cleric has issued a religious edict days after an international human rights group exposed the high death toll among overseas domestic workers in Lebanon that included Filipinos.

The Daily Star Lebanon reported on Friday that Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah issued a fatwa urging the employers to stop using physical violence, sexual harassment, and unjust actions against foreign domestics.

New York-based international Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported that 15 Filipino domestics died mostly from “unnatural causes," – the second highest number of fatalities recorded in the last 20 months among foreign house helpers in Lebanon. The deaths occurred amid the existing deployment ban of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in the said war-torn country in Western Asia.

From January 1, 2007 to August 15, 2008, HRW said 95 foreign domestic helpers died in Lebanon.

The highest number of fatalities were recorded among Ethiopian domestic workers with 64 deaths; followed by Filipino domestics with 15 deaths; Sri Lankan house helpers with nine deaths; Bangladeshis with four deaths; and one fatality each among helpers from Madagascar, Nepal, and Eritrea.

Most of the overseas domestics — 42 of them — reportedly committed suicide by hanging and other unknown means.

HRW said most of the suicides were triggered by forced confinement, excessive work demands, employer abuse, and financial pressures.

The Daily Star quoted Fadlallah as saying that the unethical treatment of the workers “was an indication of social, educational, and legal disorder within Lebanon."

According to the cleric the “sale" of the workers to other Lebanese, which is legally and religiously prohibited, was another form of abuse endured by the migrant helpers.

He reportedly said that the “sale" was usually done with the consent of the worker concerned. Fadlallah was also quoted as saying that “sold" female overseas domestics were also being forced to act as mothers of their employers’ children.

"These forms of exploitation are not only unethical but could also pressure the worker into committing suicide or harming themselves," the Daily Star quoted Fadlallah as saying.

The cleric also said that "racial considerations" should not be used as an excuse to treat the domestics as "second-class human beings." - GMANews.TV

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