Slavery existed in the territory of modern Lebanon until the 20th century. It was formally abolished by the French in 1931. Many members of the Afro-Arabian minority are descendants of the former slaves. Slavery of people from Africa and East Asia was succeeded by the modern Kafala system of poor workers from the same region where slaves had previously been imported.
Historically, the institution of slavery in the region of the later Lebanon was reflected in the institution of slavery in the Rashidun Caliphate (632–661) slavery in the Umayyad Caliphate (661–750), slavery in the Abbasid Caliphate (750–1258), slavery in the Mamluk Sultanate (1258–1517) and finally slavery in the Ottoman Empire (1517–1918).
Lebanon belonged to Ottoman Empire in 1516–1920. African slaves were imported from the Red Sea slave trade via Damascus, and from the Trans-Saharan slave trade via Egypt; there were also a small import of Caucasian (mostly Circassian) women for the rich.[1] Eunuch boys and female slaves were used for domestic service in private households (harems).
The Ottoman Empire issued decrees to restrict and gradually prohibit the slave trade and slavery between 1830 and 1909, but these laws were not strictly enforced in the Ottoman provinces.[2]
The Ottoman Empire introduced laws to gradually abolish the slave trade in the 19th century (1830–1909), but these laws were not executed in the Ottoman provinces. By the 1870s, the slave market in Beirut was conducted away from the public eye and mainly consisted of private importation and private sale. In 1877, there were about 4,500 "negresses" in the private Muslim households in Beirut, with an average of 450 being imported annually, in addition to about 100 white (Circassian) women each year.
Open slavery became defunct in practice when Lebanon and Syria was transformed in to the French Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon (1923−1946), and on 20 July 1931, France ratified the 1926 Slavery Convention on behalf of both Syria and Lebanon, which was enforced on 25 June 1931.[3]
Many members of the Afro-Lebanese minority are descendants of the former slaves. After the abolition of slavery, poor migrant workers were employed under the Kafala system, which have been compared to slavery.[4]
See main article: Migrant domestic workers in Lebanon.
Before the start of the Lebanese Civil War young girls, aged ten and upwards, who came from poor Lebanese families or from other countries such as Syria, Palestine and Egypt were employed in Lebanese households. The girl's parents collected their salary annually though the girls remained with their employers until they got married.[5] Following the beginning of the Lebanese Civil War, many Arab domestic workers decided to leave due to a general economic decline and a crisis in security. That in turn left a gap in the country's domestic workforce.[6] A change in situation came about with the arrival of African and Asian migrant workers. The first migrants arrived in the late 1970s.[7] Initially, the highest percentage of migrant workers were male until that is the 1980s and early 1990s when an increasing feminization of the migrant labour force became evident.[8]
The migrants, mostly from Sri Lanka and Philippine, arrived together in large groups through both illegal and semi-legal channels.[6]
The Kafala system involves a sponsor who has the legal responsibility for a migrant domestic worker during a contract period,[9] making the worker dependent upon the sponsor. The Kafala system is not legally binding in Lebanon because recruiters cannot act as a sponsor.[10] Instead the system is made up of a number for administrative regulations, customary practices and legal requirements which bind the worker to the recruiter temporarily.[11] https://web.archive.org/web/20181222175330/http://www.kafa.org.lb/studiespublicationpdf/prpdf47.pdf. Once in Lebanon, the migrant domestic worker is assigned an employer. A worker may not change employer or break the terms of the contract unless the employer signs a release waiver. This must be done before a notary public and Lebanese authorities give an official release.[12] A worker becomes illegal if they leave without the consent of their sponsor and the official release from the authorities. Human Rights Watch has said that the Kafala system in Lebanon puts workers at risk of exploitation and abuse,[13] while Anti-Slavery International has said that the system is one of the major causes of vulnerability of migrant workers.[14] The Kafala system means that the sponsor of the migrant domestic worker is legally responsible for the migrant and the state's responsibility for 'alien surveillance' is then passed on to the employer.[15]
In April 2019, Amnesty International urged Lebanon government to end the Kafala system which has led to the abuse of thousands of domestic workers in the Mediterranean country.[16]
By suspending the implementation of a new standard unified contract, Lebanon's State Shura Council caused a sharp blow to the migrant domestic worker rights. The new contract allowed workers to terminate their contract without the consent of their employer, dismantling a key abusive aspect of the kafala system.[17]