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Migrant Workers' Action

@migrantworkersaction

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Advocating with & for Migrant Domestic Workers in Lebanon to #AbolishKafala & for social justice in domestic labour. ✊🏾

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This International Women’s Day, we’re drawing attention to what gets left out of the conversation on women and displacement.

In Lebanon, migrant domestic workers under the Kafala system face conflict without legal status, without documents, and with little inclusion in the emergency response. Many have been abandoned by their employers. Community leaders are stepping in where formal systems have not.

Our full IWD statement looks at what displacement means for women who were never free to move in the first place.

Download it from the LinkInBio. 🌍

#IWD2026 #MigrantDomesticWorkers #Lebanon #KafalaSystem #WomensDay taken in Beirut, Lebanon by @migrantworkersaction

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7 months ago

Reclaim Our Rights - Community-Led Humanitarian Assistance

🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨

The 2024 war showed how migrant community leaders were forced into being first responders: opening informal shelters, running community kitchens, and providing medical support to displaced workers following their exclusion from official relief efforts.

The Reclaim Our Rights (ROR) collective was part of that organised response. The collective is a group of migrant women activists from Kenya, Sierra Leone, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Sri Lanka, Nigeria, Cameroon and the Philippines, dedicated to defending the rights and dignity of migrant workers in Lebanon. Migrant Workers' Action (MWA) supports and resources the collective's community organising work.

With the renewed escalation of violence in 2026, migrant domestic workers ( many undocumented, and/or abandoned by their employers under the Kafala system) are again among the most displaced and overlooked. ROR members are already on the ground responding. They need funds to keep doing it.

With your support, ROR members will be able to cover:

🔸 Food
🔸 Hygiene Kits
🔸 Rent support for informal shelters
🔸 Medical support

Your donations will support the Reclaim Our Rights collective’s work, which is led by an intersectional feminist, anti-racist, and community-based approach to humanitarian work and serves as a counterforce to the Kafala system, which overlooks their needs in emergency situations.

#Lebanon #MigrantWorkers #Beirut #MutualAid #HumanitarianAssistance taken in Beirut, Lebanon by @migrantworkersaction

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7 months ago

MWA will continue centring community-led work while responding to the developments in Lebanon.

#Beirut #Lebanon #migrantworkers #kafalasystem #middleeast taken in Beirut, Lebanon by @migrantworkersaction

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7 months ago

Migrant community leaders in Lebanon have carried their communities through one crisis after another, including the war, looking after everyone around them with very little space to look after themselves. This World Mental Health Day, they talk about how they are really doing, in their own words.

Watch the whole video on our YouTube channel. 🔗 LinkInBio

#migrantworkers #mentalhealth #lebanon #beirut #abolishkafala taken in Beirut, Lebanon by @migrantworkersaction

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6 days ago

“Humanitarian emergencies for community leaders don’t have a concept of a break or working hours.”

This is how a community leader described her experience providing relief to her community during the war.

Today, on World Humanitarian Day, we take a minute to reflect and honour the frontline workers providing relief and assistance to people in need especially in war zones by amplifying the voices of our community members and leaders.

#MigrantWorkers #WorldHumanitarianDay #AbolishKafala #Lebanon #Kafala taken in Beirut, Lebanon by @migrantworkersaction

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2 months ago

On World Humanitarian Day, we're sharing the story of Ahsan, a Bangladeshi migrant community leader.

Every day during the war, he drove to Dahiyeh on a small motorbike, delivering 200 to 300 cooked meals to displaced migrant workers. He rode through fear, drones, and airstrikes because he knew people were waiting for something as simple as a warm meal, a bottle of water, and a reminder that they had not been forgotten.

Together with the community kitchen of @tresmariaslebanon, he delivered more than 15,000 cooked meals throughout the war.

In his own words: humanitarian work is not only about providing food or water. It is about standing beside people when they feel forgotten, and reminding them that they are not alone.

Visit the link in our bio to read Ahsan's full story on Volume Up! Blog

#MigrantWorkers #WorldHumanitarianDay #AbolishKafala #Lebanon #Kafala taken in Beirut, Lebanon by @migrantworkersaction

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2 months ago

Four months ago, the aggressions in Lebanon expanded to a new level. In one day, Lebanon was struck over 100 times, causing a new wave of displacement, destruction, injuries and loss of innocent lives. We were all impacted, and we could not stand idle witnessing the migrant communities take the hit again. Once again, displaced migrants were left stranded with limited shelter options, diminishing sources of income and, subsequently, huge gaps in basic needs, safety, and healthcare. Many of them still do not have a home to return to.

Now more than ever, migrant workers, especially women and children, are susceptible to exploitation and trafficking, whether it is by employers benefiting from the exclusion of migrant workers from the law under the Lebanese labour law, or just simply by taking advantage of a person whose home, workplace and neighbourhood were all destroyed.

The reality of migrants in Lebanon during times of war often goes unseen, unheard, and unreported. This is especially true for women who have been subjected to sex trafficking. The war in Lebanon has aggravated the conditions of migrant women, making them more vulnerable in the face of sexual abuse.

Today, on the World Day Against Trafficking in Persons, we refuse to see migrant communities abandoned, especially during intermittent wars or fragile ceasefires that could spark new rounds of violence. We support the communities by ensuring they remain resourceful and sustainable in the face of economic and political adversity. We continue advocating for migrant rights through local initiatives or international frameworks. We stand by our commitment to uplift personal voices and collective or individual needs.

We dedicate this statement to the lives lost in the war and to those who kept caring for others even under shelling.

#beirut #trafficking #abolishkafala #migrantworkers #lebanon taken in Beirut, Lebanon by @migrantworkersaction

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3 months ago

✨️📢 Join us for the launch of our new report exploring migrant domestic work through a youth- and child-sensitive lens in SWANA and Asia-Pacific!

Together with academic experts and advocates we’ll hear firsthand perspectives, and explore how practices can improve the conditions for migrant domestic workers and their families.

📅 16/07/2026 at 10:00AM UTC
📍 On Zoom
🔗 Register here: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/r4Na-bvJQeuYe98TPiXFwQ

We hope to see you in our event!🌟❤️ by @migrantworkersaction

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3 months ago

Menstrual Rights are Human Rights.
Migrant Rights are Human Rights.

One year after the launch of our No Time To Bleed report on the occasion of International Menstrual Rights Day addressing the overlooked issue of menstrual experiences and period poverty in the context of of the Kafala system, Lebanon has experienced yet another war and displacement crisis with migrant workers being disproportionately affected.

Our work with the Reclaim Our Rights collective and SRHR partners Marsa and Jeyetna focused on the distribution of Hygiene Kits to over 600 displaced migrant women from South Lebanon and Dahiyeh with a focus on providing holistic access to personal care beyond the minimum provision of a few pads and soap.

Support our work and raise awareness by donating to our Reclaim Our Rights GoFundMe and read last year’s No Time To Bleed Report on our website.

#MenstrualRights #MenstrualJustice #Lebanon #KafalaSystem #migrantworkers

Video by @misterrobota
Art Director @robert.minassian
Voice Over @sarktelu taken in Beirut, Lebanon by @migrantworkersaction

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5 months ago

We will be supporting these two emergency support initiatives through our June 7th Lebanon fundraiser at Espace Transmission. Swipe through the post to learn about each of their vital work.

Tickets are a minimum 22$ donation. Additional donations are possible and encouraged. For tickets or to make a direct donation please head to the link in our bio .

Proceeds will go directly to the two initiatives. In line with our general mission, a small portion will also support Palestinian initiatives and Indigenous communities.

Thank you for the support. The need is immense, and every contribution makes a difference.

(𝘕𝘉: 𝘡𝘦𝘧𝘧𝘺 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘥𝘥 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘣𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮. 𝘠𝘰𝘶’𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘬𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘪𝘵 𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘥𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘪𝘵 – 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺’𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘴 𝘶𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘦𝘪𝘷𝘦 100% 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘥 – 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘵’𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘰𝘱𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘣𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘤𝘬𝘰𝘶𝘵)

@tanseqeye_shaabeye_lebanon
@migrantworkersaction

[Français en commentaire] taken in Espace Transmission by @migrantworkersaction

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5 months ago

On Labour Day, we reflect on the realities migrant domestic workers face in times of war

Migrant domestic workers in Lebanon continue to face persistent labour rights violations due to exclusion from labour protections, employer control, and unequal access to justice. Wages may be withheld, movement restricted, and working conditions left unregulated.

Over the years, migrant domestic workers have faced wage theft, unsafe working conditions, and dismissal without compensation or protection. These patterns reflect a systemic gap in labour protections.

In times of war, these protection gaps become even more severe. Forced displacement, loss of income, employer abandonment, and growing insecurity leave many workers without wages, housing, or access to support.

For many migrant domestic workers, the pressure to continue working remains even when safety and protection do not. While others are left without work and income after being displaced or abandoned by their employers.

Labour rights are not only about employment. They are shaped by systems of exclusion, unequal protections, and limited accountability. In times of crisis, these systems place migrant domestic workers at even greater risk.

For migrant domestic workers, labour rights must be recognised and upheld in practice in times of stability and in times of war.

Read our full statement by heading to the LinkInBio 🔗 and support the work of community leaders by donating to the Reclaim Our Rights Collective’s GoFundMe Campaign ✊🏽

#LabourDay #MigrantDomesticWorkers #DecentWork #abolishkafala #Lebanon taken in Beirut, Lebanon by @migrantworkersaction

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5 months ago

Over the past 58 days, MWA, in collaboration with ROR, has responded to the needs of displaced migrant workers by providing migrant-centred humanitarian assistance.

Many of the ROR members expanded their essential work beyond the distribution of food, rent support and hygiene kit distribution by leveraging their communities‘ strength and outreach, with some groups represented in ROR independently providing food boxes and other goods to over 1000 migrants representing all nationalities of migrant workers in Lebanon.

As MWA, we want to continue supporting community leaders in their work with the extension of our fundraising campaign for migrant-led mutual aid.

Visit the link in bio to donate and share this post to raise awareness for the impact created by community-led emergency response.

#Beirut #MigrantWorkers #Lebanon #community #displacement taken in Beirut, Lebanon by @migrantworkersaction

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6 months ago