...an Iranian colony situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozeen flavors of Christians. It is the home of Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade. The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers...’s heavily criticized domestic worker sponsorship program have failed over the years, and now, new research shows that some in Lebanon benefit financially from the system, leaving little impetus for a corrupt ruling elite to abolish it.
Activists estimate that one to two migrant workers die in Lebanon every week, yet the kafala system persists as it props up a financially lucrative industry where recruiters, government entities, and service providers benefit, argue researchers Jonathan Dagher, David Wood, and Jacob Boswall.
The primary beneficiaries from the kafala system are local recruitment agencies who earned approximately $57.5 million in revenues in 2019 alone, according to the findings of Beirut-based Triangle Research, Policy and Media Centre.
This is assuming the minimum recruitment fee is earned, estimated to range between $1,800 and $4,300 by the Syndicate of Owners of Recruitment Agencies in Lebanon (SORAL); the fees depend on the agency and the worker’s nationality.
There is no definitive data on the profit generated by beneficiaries of the kafala system due to lack of transparency in the industry, but "it is definitely profitable," said Boswall, who is an economic researcher at Triangle.
Deemed as a form of "modern day slavery" by Human Rights Watch, the kafala system excludes migrant workers from Lebanon’s labor laws and gives authority of their immigration status and employment to a sponsor (kafeel) instead.
There were attempts to reform aspects of the current system over the past months, but they have been struck down.
"The lobbying led by SORAL against reforms in the last few months was motivated by private economic interests," he told Al Arabiya English. SORAL was the main group that lobbied against reform attempts.