Some migrant workers stuck in Beirut since Israel’s escalation in Lebanon are staying in a pop-up shelter set up by a Lebanese advocate for Sierra Leoneans. They say their own government has done nothing to help evacuate them amid their growing desperation. DEA HAGE/CHAHINE
Ishatu John Kamara, 25, narrowly escaped an Israeli attack that killed the entire family she worked for in a village in southern Lebanon on Sept. 24. Her employer, whom she referred to as “Madam Ola,” had sent her to clean a relative’s apartment when the assault occurred.
Kamara, a Sierra Leonean domestic worker, then fled to Beirut, Lebanon’s capital, with other migrant workers seeking refuge from the intensive Israeli bombardment, which began in earnest in mid-September. A major ground incursion by Israeli forces into southern Lebanon was launched a week ago.
In the rising warfare, Beirut has not been spared from Israeli attacks. Now stranded in an overcrowded private shelter with over 30 other women, Kamara said her main goal is survival.
“We want to leave,” Kamara told PassBlue by WhatsApp. “There is no work in Lebanon anymore, and it’s not safe.”
Many countries have been evacuating their citizens, including the United States, Kenya and the Philippines, but Kamara and other Sierra Leonean migrants said they have heard nothing from their own government about such plans.
Sidikie Kamara, a British-based Sierra Leonean who runs House of Happiness, an organization advocating for the rights of Sierra Leoneans living with disabilities, tried to help evacuate his sister in Lebanon but found it too expensive. Commercial airlines have largely suspended flights to and from Lebanon, and the cost of the few available flights has surged due to the fighting in the country.
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“Our government isn’t doing anything for the girls,” Kamara of House of Happiness said. (He is related to Ishatu Kamara by clan.) “We saw how the Kenyan government evacuated its citizens, but Sierra Leone hasn’t said a word. These girls have been abandoned and are living in terrible conditions.”
Sierra Leone is currently an elected member of the United Nations Security Council. Its spokesperson for the mission to the UN referred PassBlue to the statement of the foreign minister, Timothy Musa Kabba. He told the BBC that the country is working with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and with the Lebanese government to evacuate citizens of Sierra Leone. (No data exists on how many people from the country are living in Lebanon.) However, many of the migrants from the West African country told PassBlue that they have not received help from their governments or from UN agencies.
The IOM told PassBlue that it has received more than 700 evacuation requests from migrants seeking to return home from Lebanon, but the organization is facing major challenges due to limited commercial flights out of Beirut and a lack of money.
“Migrants in acutely vulnerable situations will receive voluntary return assistance,” Joe Lowry, an IOM spokesperson, said by email. “IOM is working closely with embassies, consular services, relevant ministries, and community-based organizations to ensure we are supporting migrant protection.”
Sidikie Kamara also told PassBlue that he has been unable to reach the Sierra Leonean government and that nationals working in Lebanon have received no useful information from authorities there. Sierra Leone, like many other African nations, does not have a full-service consulate in Lebanon.Domestic workers from Sierra Leone, above, in Beirut amid the war are unable to gain access to formal Lebanese shelters, which are already jammed with people.
The domestic workers from Sierra Leone who are stranded in Lebanon since the aerial attacks and ground invasion by Israel began are generally relying on private charities and individuals for essentials like hygiene kits, clothing and food. Migrant workers have been pushed out of Lebanese shelters, and many of the workers spent the first few days after the September assaults sleeping on the streets. As Israel’s invasion continues, some migrants are still camping outdoors in Beirut.
The Oct. 7 attack by Hamas in southern Israel not only triggered a retaliatory war by Israeli forces in Gaza but it also set off increased rocket fire from the Hezbollah militia in Lebanon against Israel since Oct. 8, in sympathy with Hamas. Most recently, the Israeli army is stepping up its incursion to wipe out Hezbollah in Lebanon, according to President Benjamin Netanyahu’s latest pronouncement.
He warned on Oct. 8 that Lebanon might suffer more destruction similar to the war in Gaza, where 41,615 people have been killed, according to the enclave’s health ministry. More than 90 percent of its population has been displaced and two-thirds of the strip’s infrastructure has been razed to the ground.
“You have an opportunity to save Lebanon before it falls into the abyss of a long war that will lead to destruction and suffering like we see in Gaza,” Netanyahu said. “I say to you, the people of Lebanon: Free your country from Hezbollah so that this war can end.”
The US State Department spokesperson, Matthew Miller, said on the same day that the US supports “Israel launching these incursions to degrade Hezbollah’s infrastructure.”
The Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC) said about 185,000 Lebanese and Syrians (the latter having escaped their country’s war) have fled to Syria’s open borders since the assaults in Lebanon intensified, but Syria is another point of violence in the Mideast. (The UN humanitarian official in Lebanon, Imran Riza, said on Oct. 9 that more than 600,000 people are internally displaced nationwide, and over half of them are women and girls.)
A Ugandan activist named Safina Virani has been using social media to advocate for African migrant workers still in Beirut. Virani rented a small room for more than 40 African women stranded in the city and has worked with other local organizers to get food and other materials to people who have nowhere to go.
“The conditions are terrible, but right now the priority is getting them food and hygiene kits while we work on finding other apartments to reduce congestion,” she told PassBlue.
Dea Hage-Chahine, a Lebanese activist who is also advocating for the Sierra Leonean workers, said she had at least 150 women and three babies in the shelter she has organized informally.
“We’ve been setting up this pop-up shelter throughout the past week,” she told PassBlue. “We are one out of three shelters for migrants in Lebanon, which is crazy knowing that there are 120,000 migrants, from which thousands and thousands are displaced and need sheltering due to the war.”
Lebanon actually hosts at least 177,000 migrant workers, primarily from Africa and Asia, according to IOM. Many workers are employed under the kafala system, a sponsorship model common in the Mideast. It gives employers control ver the legal status of the migrants who work for them. Reports have documented the inhumane conditions many workers endure under this system, with limited access to legal recourse for abuse.
IOM told PassBlue that it found cases of migrant workers being locked inside their employers’ homes to guard properties in Lebanon while the employers fled the war.
“The ongoing conflict has worsened their situation,” Lowry said. “With disrupted services and infrastructure, migrant workers find it increasingly difficult to access support or escape to safety. This has resulted in cases of abuse, isolation, and psychological trauma.”
Some of the Sierra Leonean workers told PassBlue that their employers had confiscated their passports and refused to return them, even as their bosses left Lebanon. Safinatu Mansaray, another Sierra Leonean domestic worker stranded in Beirut, said her employer, whom she calls “Mama,” is withholding her passport unless she pays her $800.
“I am sick because where I am sleeping isvery cold,” Mansaray said, coughing as she shared her story.
PassBlue tried to reach the employer on the number Mansaray provided but got no response.
Riza of the UN told reporters on Oct. 9 that at least 185,000 people have sought refuge in 1,000 shelters in Lebanon, 80 percent of them already packed. But Mansaray and many others are being denied access to formal Lebanese shelters.
At least 70 women who had found refuge in a shelter in the city of Tripoli, the second-largest city and in the north, were ejected because they were not Lebanese. Lebanon’s Ministry of Education has also banned migrant workers and Syrians from seeking shelter in schools converted to temporary housing.
Discrimination against Africans amid outbreaks of conflict is not a new problem for African migrants. When Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine occurred on Feb. 24, 2022, African students there faced harsh treatment while attempting to escape alongside Ukrainians.
Stéphane Dujarric, the spokesperson for UN Secretary-General António Guterres, said last week that employers are responsible for the safety of their workers. “It is clear that, anywhere in the world, employers have a responsibility to the people who work for them,” he said.
We welcome your comments on this article. What are your thoughts on migrant workers stuck in Lebanon?
Source;Sierra Leonean Migrants Feel ‘Abandoned’ in Lebanon as War Rages – PassBlue