Ivorian Woman Pushed off 6th Floor for Demanding Salary in Lebanon · Global Voices
Elia J. Ayoub

Ivory Coast-based Koaci.com has learned that a young Ivorian woman was found dead after having been reportedly pushed off the 6th floor of an apartment following a suspected feud with her sponsor concerning her salary payment.
Carolle Feby reports on Koaci.com that [fr]:
Une jeune Ivoirienne est morte Rechercher morte après avoir été poussée du 6ème étage d’un immeuble par son patron pour lui avoir réclamé son salaire à Beyrouth au Liban.
Les faits ont été rapportés à koaci.com par un jeune camerounais, après les révélations de sa sœur voisine de la victime.
Une jeune fille d’une vingtaine d’années de nationalité ivoirienne a été retrouvée morte en bas de son immeuble.
Selon la voisine de la jeune infortunée dont le nom n’a pas été révélé, la fille aurait été poussée du 6ème étage d’un immeuble à Asharfir, un quartier de la ville de Beyrouth au Liban, le mardi 1er Juillet par son patron.
Elle lui réclamait son salaire et l’homme qui a été manifestement contrarié par cette requête, l’aurait poussée sous l’effet de la colère.
Cette jeune expatriée aurait quitté la Côte d’Ivoire depuis des années pour aller travailler en tant que servante au Liban, comme beaucoup de jeunes Ivoiriennes.
Les histoires plus ou moins dramatiques d'Ivoiriennes travaillant au Liban sont malheureusement légions.
Il y a quelques mois, après une révélation de koaci.com un groupe d'africaines avait été rapatrié du Liban après avoir réussi à échapper à leurs patrons qui leurs faisaient subir des sévices corporels et moraux.
A young Ivorian woman of around 20 years old was found dead after having been reportedly pushed off the 6th floor of a building for demanding her salary in Beirut, Lebanon.
This was reported to Koaci.com by a young Cameroonian woman, after the revelations by her sister, who is a neighbor of the victim.
According to her neighbor, whose name can’t be revealed, the young victim was pushed out of the 6th floor of a building in Asharfir – Note: She might have meant Achrafieh -, a neighborhood in the city of Beirut in Lebanon on Tuesday the 1st of July.
She was asking for her salary and the man, refusing, apparently pushed her out of anger.
This young expatriate reportedly left the Ivory Coast years ago to work as a domestic worker in Lebanon, a common scenario for many young Ivorian women.
Stories such as this one are unfortunately very common in Lebanon.
A few months ago, after a revelation by Koaci.com that a group of African women were being tortured, they were successfully repatriated from Lebanon.
This unfortunately is a common occurrence in Lebanon and other Arab countries that employ the Kafala, or ‘Sponsorship’ system. As explained by Human Rights Watch in its 2014 report on Lebanon:
Migrant domestic workers are excluded from the labor law and subject to restrictive immigration rules based on employer-specific sponsorship—the kafala system—which put workers at risk of exploitation and abuse. While outgoing Labor Minister Charbel Nahhas announced in January 2012 that he would look at abolishing the kafala system, in 2013 Labor Minister Salim Jreissati failed to do so or to put forward legislation that would protect the estimated 200,000 migrant domestic workers in the country. In July, a criminal court sentenced an employer to two months in prison, imposed a fine, and required her to pay damages and compensation to a migrant domestic worker whose wages she had not paid for years. Migrant domestic workers suing their employers for abuse continue, however, to face legal obstacles and risk imprisonment and deportation due to the restrictive visa system.